THE  .WRITINGS. 


OF 


ALBEKT  GALLATIN. 


EDITED   BY 


HENRY   ADAMS. 


VOLUME  I. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &   CO. 

LONDON:  16  SOUTHAMPTON  ST.,  COVENT  GARDEN. 
1879. 


Copyright,  1879,  by  J.  B.  LIPPINCOTT  &  Co. 


PREFACE. 


A  COMPLETE  collection  of  the  published  writings  of  Albert 
Gallatin  would  fill  many  volumes.  A  list  of  them,  which  is 
believed  to  include  all  the  most  important,  will  be  found  in  the 
index  to  the  third  volume  of  the  present  collection;  and  in 
order  to  assist  investigators,  this  list  indicates  in  each  case  the 
public  document,  the  newspaper,  or  the  other  source  where  the 
paper  in  question  was  printed.  Only  those  marked  there  with 
an  asterisk  have  been  republished  here.  The  others  are  sup 
posed  to  be  already  sufficiently  accessible,  or  to  have  no  longer 
any  especial  interest. 

Two  of  the  three  volumes  now  published  consist  almost  ex 
clusively  of  correspondence  hitherto  unprinted  or  uncollected, 
and  are  intended  to  supply  the  want  of  a  general  view  of  Mr. 
Gallatin's  personal  influence  upon  public  affairs  during  a  period 
of  sixty  years.  Following  a  well-established  custom,  the  editor 
has  included  among  the  letters  selected  for  publication  a  number 
of  those  addressed  to  Mr.  Gallatin  by  his  most  distinguished 
contemporaries,  such  as  the  successive  Presidents  whom  he  served, 
where  it  has  been  supposed  that  such  letters  were  not  already  in 
print. 

The  third  volume  contains  such  essays  and  publications  of 
Mr.  Gallatin  as  are  believed  to  have  historical  value  and  are  not 
easily  to  be  found  even  in  public  libraries. 

For  the  series  of  notes  and  letters  written  by  Mr.  Gallatin 
while  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  Presidents  Jefferson  and 
Madison,  the  editor  is  indebted  to  the  liberality  of  the  Depart 
ment  of  State.  He  has  especially  to  acknowledge  the  kindness 
with  which  Mr.  Evarts,  the  head  of  that  Department,  has  per 
mitted  him  to  have  copies  of  all  papers  written  by  Mr.  Gallatin 
and  preserved  among  the  Jefferson  and  Madison  MSS. 


ADAMS. 

WASHINGTON,  January,  1879. 


TABLE    OF   CONTENTS. 


1788.       3  September.     Draft  of  Report  of  the  Harrisburg  Conference  1 

1792.                                  Petition  against  Excise       .....  2 

1794.          September.     Declaration    of   the    Committees    of   Fayette 

County   ........  4 

17  September.     Gallatin  to  Governor  Miffiin      ....  9 


1798.     25  May. 


Gallatin  to  Lewis  F.  Delesdernier 


13 


1801.          February.  Plan  at  time  of  balloting  for  Jeiferson  and  Burr     18 

14  March.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 24 

12  June.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 27 

25  July.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 28 

26  July.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 29 

10  August.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 30 

14  August.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .         .         .         .         .36 

17  August.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 38 

21  August.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 40 

28  August.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 41 

5  September.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .         .         .         .         .43 

7  September.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .         .         .         .         .44 

12  September.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 47 

14  September.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 49 

18  September.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .         .         .         .         .54 
21  September.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .....     56 

3  October.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .         .         .         .         .56 

9  October.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 57 

9  November.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .         .         .         .         .58 

11  November.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .         .         .         .         .59 

12  November.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .....     60 

15  November.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .         .         .         .         .61 
14  November.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .         .         .         .         .62 

November.  Gallatin   to   Jefferson.  Notes   on    President's 

Message          .......     63 

16  November.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .         .         .         .         .69 
28  November.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .         .         .         .         .74 

v 


TABLE     OF     CONTENTS. 


1802.     19  January. 

13  February. 
18  June. 

3  August. 
9  August. 
9  August. 

14  August. 
14  August. 

16  August. 
20  August. 
20  August. 
23  August. 
30  August. 

8  September. 

9  September. 
13  September. 

17  September. 

20  September. 

21  September. 
7  October. 

26  October. 
December. 


Gallatin  to  Joseph  H.  Nicholson      ...  74 

Gallatin  to  William  B.  Giles   .         .                  .76 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 80 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 81 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .....  81 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 83 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .....  84 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 85 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 86 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 90 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 92 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .....  94 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 95 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 96 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 96 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 98 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 98 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 99 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 100 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .....  101 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 102 

Gallatin    to   Jefferson.  Notes  on   the  Presi 
dent's  Message       ......  104 

Gallatin  to  Madison  109 


1803.     13  January. 

18  January. 
21  March. 
28  March. 
13  April. 
16  June. 
21  June. 

2  July. 

9  July. 

12  July. 
25  July. 
24  July. 
27  July. 
11  August. 

13  August. 
18  August. 
20  August. 
18  August. 
23  August. 
31  August. 

5  September. 


Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

[Enclosure.]    Jefferson  to  Duane 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 


111 
114 
115 
118 
119 
120 
122 
123 
126 
127 
128 
129 
130 
133 
134 
137 
138 
139 
140 
144 
145 
152 


1  J 

<\.  &  Lt  Ji    u  JT     u  V/ON  x  J&  n  i  D. 

Vll 

PAGE 

1803.     16  September. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         

153 

3  October. 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

154 

4  October. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson.     Remarks  on  the  Presi 

dent's  Message       ...... 

156 

6  October. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         

162 

28  October. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

162 

29  October. 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

166 

31  October. 

Gallatin  to  W.  C.  Claiborne    .... 

167 

8  November. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         

169 

13  December. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

171 

1804.     11  January. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

172 

18  January. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

173 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

174 

11  February. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

176 

15  February. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

177 

21  February. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

178 

15  March. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

179 

28  March. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

180 

5  April. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         

183 

12  April. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

184 

15  April. 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

186 

16  April. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

187 

27  April. 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

189 

3  May. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         

190 

11  May. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

191 

30  May. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

193 

7  June. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

194 

9  June. 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

196 

11  June. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

196 

2  July. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

198 

12  July. 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

199 

18  July. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

200 

20  August. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

202 

1  September. 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

206 

4  September. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

208 

18  September. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

208 

12  October. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

210 

15  October. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

210 

October. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson.     Remarks  on  the  Presi- 

211 

29  October. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

216 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

217 

13  December. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         

218 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

219 

1805.       3  January. 

Gallatin  to  Samuel  L.  Mitchill 

219 

12  February. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson.     Remarks  on  the  Inau 

gural  Address       .                 .... 

227 

Vlll 


1805. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


28  March. 

3  April. 
23  April. 

9  May. 

28  May. 

29  May. 

30  May. 

1  July. 

2  July. 
17  July. 

6  August. 

7  August. 
17  August. 

12  September. 

13  September. 


11  October. 

23  October. 

3  November. 

5  November. 

6  November. 
16  November. 

20  November. 

21  November. 

24  November. 

25  November. 

26  November. 
November. 

27  November. 
3  December. 


3  December. 

4  December. 
7  December. 
7  December. 

15  December. 


Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Samuel  Smith 
Gallatin  to  Madison 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson. 

Affairs . 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson. 

eign  Gold 
Jefferson  to  G 
Jefferson  to  G; 
Jefferson  to  G 
Gallatin  to  Je: 
Jefferson  to  G 
Jefferson  to  G 
Jefferson  to  G 
Gallatin  to  Je 
Jefferson  to  G 
Gallatin  to  Je 

sage 

Jefferson  to  G 
Jefferson  to  G 
Gallatin  to  Je 
Gallatin  to  Je: 

Message 
Jefferson  to  G 
Gallatin  to  Je: 

Resolutions 


[Enclosure.]     Spanish 


Observations   on   For- 


PAGE 

228 
229 
229 
230 
231 
232 
233 
235 
236 
236 
237 
239 
240 

241 


255 

llatin         .         .         .         . 

256 

.llatin         

257 

illatin         ..... 

258 

Person         ..... 

258 

illatin         ..... 

260 

illatin         ..... 

260 

illatin         

261 

Person         ..... 

261 

illatin         ..... 

264 

ferson.     Remarks  on  the  Mes- 

.         .         . 

264 

illatin         ..... 

266 

illatin         

267 

ferson         ..... 

275 

ferson.     Remarks    on    Spanish 

. 

275 

illatin.     Spanish  Resolutions    . 

277 

Ferson.     Remarks    on    Spanish 

. 

278 

illatin         ..... 

281 

eph  H.  Nicholson 

282 

illatin         ..... 

282 

illatin         ..... 

283 

1806.          January.         Gallatin  to  Jefferson.     Note.  —  Sending      off 

Yrujo 283 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson.     Note.  —  Intended  Ne 
gotiation  with  Great  Britain        .         .         .     284 
6  January.         Gallatin  to  Jefferson 289 


TABLE     OF     CONTENTS. 

1806.     12  February.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

24  February.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

1  March.  Gallatin  to  Madison          ..... 

11  March.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 
5  April.  Gallatin  to  G.  Clinton,  Jr.       .... 

10  April.  George  Clinton,  Jr.,  to  Gallatin 

15  April.  Gallatin  to  the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Repre- 
sentatives     ....... 

19  May.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

15  June.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

19  June.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

26  June.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

9  July.  Gallatin  to  Nathan  Sandford 

14  July.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 
7  August.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

15  August.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

16  August.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 
28  August.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 
31  August.           Jefferson  to  Gallatin        ..... 

13  October.          Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

12  November.     Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

14  November.     Jefferson  to  Gallatin        ..... 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson.  Sketch  of  Financial 
Paragraph  ....... 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson.  Remarks  on  the  Presi 
dent's  Message  ...... 


16  November. 

22  November. 

23  November. 
25  November. 
12  December. 


Gallatin  to  Jefferson.    Note  on  the  Paragraph 
entitled  "  University"          .         .         .         . 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson.    Observations 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 


IX 

PAGE 

290 
291 
291 
293 
295 
297 

298 
299 
299 
300 
301 
302 
304 
305 
306 
307 
307 
308 
310 
311 
312 

313 
316 

320 
321 
321 
325 


1807.       6  January.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 325 

January.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .....  327 
13  January.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .....  328 
8  February.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson.  Notes. —  Message    re 
specting  Gunboats  .....  328 

22  February.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 331 

31  March.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 331 

13  April.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 332 

16  April.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 335 

25  June.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 336 

29  June.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 336 

1  July.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 337 

7  July.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 337 

16  July.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 337 

17  July.  Gallatin  to  Joseph  H.  Nicholson     .         .         .338 


TABLE     OF     CONTENTS. 


1807.     25  July.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson.  [Enclosure.]     Memo 
randum  of  Preparatory  Measures         .         .  340 

15  August.  Gallatin  to  Madison 353 

26  August.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .....  353 

26  August.  Madison  to  Gallatin  .         .         .         .         .  355 

2  September.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .....  356 

17  October.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 357 

21  October.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 357 

21  October.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson.  Remarks  on  President's 

Message 358 

21  October.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 364 

21  October.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .         .                  .         .  365 

24  October.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 365 

4  November.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .         .         .         .         .  366 

5  November.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  .....  366 

25  November.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 366 

2  December.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 367 

3  December.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 367 

18  December.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson  .         .       .  .         .         .  368 

18  December.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin  369 


1808. 


14  January. 

12  February. 

13  February. 
18  February. 
18  February. 

27  February. 

29  February. 
2  March. 

10  March. 

11  March. 
11  March. 
13  March. 
16  March. 

30  March. 

1  April. 

2  April. 

5  May. 

6  May. 
10  May. 
16  May. 
16  May. 
23  May. 

28  May. 

15  July. 
27  July. 

29  July. 


Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Jefferson  to^  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 


369 
370 
371 
371 
371 
372 
373 
374 
375 
376 
377 
377 
377 
379 
381 
383 
384 
385 
386 
387 
389 
390 
393 
394 
395 
396 


TABLE     OF     CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

1808.       5  August.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 399 

6  August.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         .         .         .         .         .  401 

9  August.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         .....  402 

17  August.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         .....  405 

19  August.  Madison  to  Gallatin 407 

23  August.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         .....  409 
31  August.  Madison  to  Gallatin         .....  410 

2  September.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 412 

2  September.  Gallafcin  to  Jefferson         .....  413 

8  September.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         .....  415 

14  September.  Gallatin  to  David  Thomas         ....  416 

14  September.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         .....  417 
16  September.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 418 

24  October.  Gallatin  to  Charles  Pinckney  ....  419 

25  October.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 419 

30  October.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 420 

2  November.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         .....  420 

2  November.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson.    Kemarks  on  President's 

Message         .......  421 

3  November.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         .....  426 
8  November.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 427 

15  November.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson         .....  428 
24  November.  Gallatin  to  W.  B.  Giles 428 

November.  Campbell's  Keport   ......  435 

14  December.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin         .....  446 

28  December.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 447 

29  December.  Gallatin  to  Joseph  H.  Nicholson      .         .         .  449 


1809.  10  January.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

4  February.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

February.  Notes  on  the  Political  Situation 

22  February.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 

29  June.  Gallatin  to  Samuel  Smith 
28  July.  Madison  to  Gallatin 

30  July.  Madison  to  Gallatin 

13  August.  Gallatin  to  D.  M.  Erskine 
11  September.  Gallatin  to  Madison 

25  September.  Madison  to  Gallatin 

27  September.  Gallatin  to  W.  H.  Harrison     . 

8  November.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 

1810.  26  February.  Gallatin  to  John  W.  Eppes      . 

21  April.  Gallatin  to  the  National  Intelligencer 

14  July.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
14  August.  Madison  to  Gallatin 

21  August.  Gallatin  to  Madison 

22  August.  Madison  to  Gallatin 


449 
451 
451 
453 
454 
454 
456 
458 
461 
462 
463 
464 

466 
475 
479 
481 
482 
483 


Xll 

i 

A  J5  lj  &      U  fl       U  U  JM  J.  Jfi  JM  T  ». 

PAGE 

1810. 

5  September. 

Madison  to  Gallatin        ..... 

485 

5  September. 

486 

10  September. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         ..... 

487 

12  September. 

Madison  to  Gallatin         ..... 

489 

17  September. 

Gallatin  to  Madison         .         .     •    . 

490 

27  September. 

Jefferson  to  Gallatin         ..... 

491 

30  November. 

Gallatin  to  Madison        ..... 

494 

1811. 

5  January. 

Gallatin  to  Madison         ..... 

494 

March. 

Gallatin  to  Madison        

495 

22  March. 

Richard  Brent  to  Gallatin        .... 

496 

18  March. 

[Enclosure.]     Monroe  to  Brent 

497 

14  September. 

Madison  to  Gallatin         ..... 

499 

1812. 

Gallatin  to  Madison        ..... 

500 

10  January. 

Gallatin  to  Ezekiel  Bacon        .... 

501 

10  March. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson         

517 

21  May. 

Gallatin  to  Joseph  H.  Nicholson 

518 

10  June. 

Gallatin  to  Langdon  Cheves    . 

518 

1  June. 

Monroe  to  Gallatin  ...... 

520 

June. 

Gallatin  to  Madison        ..... 

521 

23  June. 

Gallatin  to  Langdon  Cheves     .... 

521 

21  July. 

Gallatin  to  Madison        ..... 

522 

8  August. 

Madison  to  Gallatin         ..... 

523 

15  August. 

Madison  to  Gallatin         ..... 

525 

August. 

Madison  to  Gallatin         ..... 

526 

11  October. 

Gallatin  to  Madison        

526 

Gallatin  to  Madison.     Memoranda  . 

527 

1  November. 

Gallatin  to  Madison        

529 

12  December. 

Gallatin  to  Madison         ..... 

530 

18  December. 

Gallatin  to  Jefferson        

530 

1813. 

5  January. 

Monroe  to  Gallatin  ...... 

531 

J 

12  February. 

Gallatin  to  Langdon  Cheves     .... 

532 

5  March. 

Gallatin  to  Madison         ..... 

532 

Gallatin  to  Madison  [three  Memoranda  with 

out  date]  ........ 

533 

5  April. 

Madison  to  Gallatin        .... 

534 

17  April. 

Gallatin  to  Madison        ..... 

534 

[Enclosure  to  Secretaries  of  War  and  Navy] 

535 

22  April. 

Gallatin  to  Madison         ..... 

538 

2  May. 

Gallatin  to  Monroe  ...... 

539 

5  May. 

Monroe  to  Gallatin  .... 

540 

6  May. 

542 

8  May. 

Gallatin  to  Monroe  ..... 

544 

J 

22  June. 

Gallatin  to  Baring  Bros.         .... 

545 

22  July. 

Alexander  Baring  to  Gallatin 

546 

TABLE     OF     CONTENTS. 


Xlll 


1813.     14  August. 

21  August. 

27  August. 

28  August. 

29  August. 

13  September. 
2  September. 

22  September. 
1  October. 

12  October. 
15  October. 
18  October. 
18  October. 
1  November. 
21  November. 

14  December. 


1814. 


7  January. 

7  January. 
11  January. 
25  January. 

7  March. 

1  April. 
21  April. 

21  April. 

22  April. 

2  May. 
6  May. 

13  May. 
17  May. 

23  May. 

24  May. 

25  May. 
28  May. 

26  May. 

2  June. 

3  June. 

3  June. 
13  June. 
20  August. 

19  June. 

20  June. 
26  July. 
31  July. 

4  August. 


The  American  Commissioners  to  the  Emperor 

Alexander    .......  552 

Moreau  to  G-allatin  ......  662 

Gallatin  to  Alexander  Baring        .         .         .  564 

Gallatin  to  Monroe  ......  568 

The  American  Commissioners  to  Monroe         .  569 

Gallatin  to  Levett  Harris        ....  574 

Gallatin  to  Moreau  ......  576 

W.  H.  Crawford  to  Gallatin    .         .         .         .581 

Gallatin  to  Count  Romanzoff  ....  583 

Alexander  Baring  to  Gallatin        .         .         .  584 

The  American  Commissioners  to  Monroe        .  587 

Gallatin  to  Alexander  Baring          .         .         .  588 
Gallatin  to  G.  M.  Dallas           .         .         .         .589 

Gallatin  to  Count  Romanzoff  ....  590 

Gallatin  to  Monroe 591 

Alexander  Baring  to  Gallatin          .         .         .  592 

Gallatin  to  Monroe 593 

Gallatin  to  Alexander  Baring           .         .         .  594 
G.  M.  Dallas  to  Gallatin           .         .         .         .594 

Gallatin  to  Count  Romanzoff  ....  598 

Gallatin  to  Baring  Bros 600 

Gallatin  to  Alexander  Baring          .         .         .  601 

Gallatin  to  Crawford 602 

Gallatin  to  La  Fayette 605 

f  Gallatin  to  Clay 606 

Clay  to  Bayard  and  Gallatin    ....  608 
Gallatin  and  Bayard  to  Monroe       .         .         .  611 
W.  H.  Crawford  to  the  U.  S.  Commissioners  .  614 
Bayard  and  Gallatin  to  Adams,  Clay,  and  Rus 
sell        617 

Bayard  and  Gallatin  to  Monroe       .         .         .618 

W.  H.  Crawford  to  the  U.  S.  Commissioners  .  619 

La  Fayette  to  Gallatin 620 

W.  H.  Crawford  to  the  U.  S.  Commissioners  .  622 

[Enclosure.]     La  Fayette  to  Crawford  .         .  623 

Gallatin  to  Monroe  ......  625 

Gallatin  to  Monroe  ......  625 

La  Fayette  to  Gallatin 626 

Gallatin  to  Monroe 627 

Gallatin  to  Monroe  ......  637 

Gallatin  to  the  Emperor  Alexander          .         .  629 

Gallatin  to  Monroe 632 

Gallatin  to  R.  G.  Beasley        .         .         .         .633 

Mme.  de  Stae'l  to  Gallatin         ....  635 

Crawford  to  Gallatin  636 


XIV 


TABLE     OF     CONTENTS. 


1814.     26  October. 

24  December. 

25  December. 


Gallatin  to  Monroe  ..... 
Gallatin  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
Gallatin  to  Monroe  . 


PAGE 

640 
644 
645 


1815. 


19  March. 

5  April. 

4  September. 

6  September. 

11  September. 

24  September. 

25  September. 
6  November. 

23  November. 
23  November. 
23  November. 

25  November. 
27  November. 
30  November. 

4  December. 
4  December. 

12  December. 
16  December. 

26  December. 


Jefferson  to  Gallatin 
Crawford  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Madison 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Madison  to  Gallatin 
Gallatin  to  Richard  Bache 
Gallatin  to  A.  J.  Dallas  . 
Gallatin  to  James  H.  Blake 
Gallatin  to  Madison 
Gallatin  to  Monroe  . 
Gallatin  to  Clay 
Gallatin  to  Monroe  . 
Gallatin  to  Jefferson 
Gallatin  to  Monroe  . 
Gallatin  to  Josiah  Meigs 
Monroe  to  Galiatin  . 
Gallatin  to  A.  J.  Dallas  . 
Monroe  to  Gallatin  . 
Gallatin  to  Monroe  . 
Memorandum  . 


647 
648 
650 
651 
652 
653 
654 
657 
657 
659 
659 
662 
666 
668 
670 
672 
673 
675 
677 
678 


1816.       4  January.  Gallatin  to  Clay 680 

27  January.  Monroe  to  Gallatin 683 

31  January.  Gallatin  to  John  Forsyth         ....  684 

2  February.  Gallatin  to  Monroe 688 

13  February.  Monroe  to  Gallatin 689 

19  March.  Gallatin  to  T.  R.  Gold 689 

1  April.  Gallatin  to  Jefferson 691 

11  April.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 692 

12  April.  Madison  to  Gallatin 694 

18  April.  Gallatin  to  Madison 694 

18  April.  Gallatin  to  Monroe 695 

19  April.  Gallatin  to  Madison 696 

5  April.  [Enclosure.]     John  Smith  to  Gallatin    .         .  696 
23  April.  Gallatin  to  Nathaniel  Macon  .         .         .         .697 

6  May.  Crawford  to  Gallatin 699 

7  May.  Gallatin  to  Matthew  Lyon       .         .         .         .700 

10  May.  Crawford  to  Gallatin 702 

15  May.  Gallatin  to  Monroe  ......  704 

18  May.  Jefferson  to  Gallatin 705 

2  June.  Gallatin  to  Madison 706 

4  June.  Gallatin  to  Madison          .....  706 

7  June.  Gallatin  to  Madison  707 


WRITINGS  OF 


LETTERS,    ETC. 


DRAFT   OF   REPORT    OF   THE    HARRISBURG    CONFERENCE    OF   SEP 
TEMBER  3,  1788.1 

.  .  .  AYE,  &c.,  .  .  .  are  united  in  opinion  that  a  federal  gov 
ernment  is  the  only  one  that  can  preserve  the  liberties  and 
secure  the  happiness  of  the  inhabitants  of  such  an  extensive 
empire  as  the  United  States,  and  experience  having  taught  us 
that  the  ties  of  our  Union,  under  the  Articles  of  Confederation, 
were  so  weak  as  to  deprive  us  of  some  of  the  greatest  advan 
tages  we  had  a  right  to  expect  from  such  a  government,  there 
fore  are  fully  convinced  that  a  more  efficient  one  is  absolutely 
necessary.  But  at  the  same  time  we  must  declare  that  although 
the  constitution  proposed  for  the  United  States  is  likely  to 
obviate  most  of  the  inconveniences  we  labored  under,  yet  sev 
eral  parts  of  it  appear  so  exceptionable  to  us  that  nothing  but  the 
fullest  confidence  of  obtaining  a  revision  of  them  by  a  general 
convention  and  our  reluctance  to  enter  into  any  dangerous  meas 
ures  could  prevail  on  us  to  acquiesce  in  its  organization  in  this 
State.  We  are  sensible  that  a  large  number  of  the  citizens, 
both  in  this  and  other  States,  who  gave  their  assent  to  its  being 
carried  in  execution  previous  to  any  amendments,  were  actu 
ated  more  by  the  fear  of  the  dangers  that  might  arise  from  any 
delays  than  by  a  conviction  of  its  being  perfect.  We  therefore 
are  convinced  that  they  now  will  concur  with  us  in  pursuing 
every  peaceable  method  of  obtaining  a  speedy  revision  of  the 
Constitution  in  the  mode  pointed  out  by  the  same,  and  when 

1  For  the  report  finally  adopted,  see  Elliot's  Debates  on  the  Constitution, 
vol.  ii.  p.  542. 

YOL.  I. — 2 


2  WEITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1792. 

we  reflect  on  the  present  situation  of  the  Union  we  can  entertain 
no  doubt  that  motives  of  conciliation  and  the  dictates  of  policy 
and  prudence  will  conspire  to  induce  every  man  of  true  federal 
principle*  Jp^give  his  support  to  a  measure  not  only  calculated 
to  recomrtiend  the  new  constitution  to  the  approbation  and  sup 
port  6f "£  nhmeroits  class  of  American  citizens,  but  even  neces- 
'sary  to*  prevent  the  total  defection  of  some  members  of  the 
Union.  Strongly  impressed  with  those  sentiments,  we  have 
resolved  as  follows : 

1.  Resolved,  That  in  order  to  prevent  a  dissolution  of  the 
Union  and  to  secure  our  liberties  and  those  of  our  posterity, 
it  is  necessary  that  a  revision  of  the  Federal  Constitution  be 
obtained  in  the  most  speedy  manner. 

2.  That  the  safest  manner  to  obtain  such  a  revision  will  be 
in  conformity  to  the  request  of  the  State  of  New  York,  to  use 
our  endeavors  to  have  a  federal  convention  called  as  soon  as 
possible. 

3.  That  in  order  that  the  friends  to  amendments  of  the  Fed 
eral  Constitution  who  are  inhabitants  of  this  State  may  act  in 
concert,  it  is  necessary,  and  it  is  hereby  recommended  to  the  sev 
eral  counties  in  the  State,  to  appoint  committees  who  may  corre 
spond,  one  with  the  other,  and  with  such  similar  committees  as 
may  be  formed  in  other  States. 

4.  That  the  friends  to  amendments  of  the  Federal  Constitution 
in  the  several  States  be  invited  to  meet  in  a  general  conference 
to  be  held  at          ,  on          ,  and  that  members  be  elected 
by  this  conference,  who  or  any             of  them  shall  meet  at  said 
place  and  time,  in  order  to  devise,  in  concert  with  such  other 
delegates  from  the  several  States  as  may  come  under  similar  ap 
pointments,  on  such  amendments  to  the  Federal  Constitution  as 
to  them  may  seem  most  necessary,  and  on  the  most  likely  way 
to  carry  them  into  effect. 


1792.     PETITION   AGAINST   EXCISE. 

To  the  Honorable  the  Speaker  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  Congress  of  the  United  States. 


1792.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  3 

The  Petition  of  the  subscribers,  inhabitants  of  the  western 
counties  of  Pennsylvania,  most  respectfully  showeth  : 

That  your  Petitioners  have  been  greatly  alarmed  by  a  law  of 
Congress  which  imposes  a  duty  on  spirituous  liquors  distilled 
from  produce  of  the  United  States.  To  us  that  act  appears 
unequal  in  its  operation  and  immoral  in  its  effects.  Unequal  in 
its  operation,  as  a  duty  laid  on  the  common  drink  of  a  nation, 
instead  of  taxing  the  citizens  in  proportion  to  their  property, 
falls  as  heavy  on  the  poorest  class  as  on  the  rich ;  immoral  in 
its  effect,  because  the  amount  of  the  duty  chiefly  resting  on  the 
oath  of  the  payer,  offers,  at  the  expense  of  the  honest  part  of 
the  community,  a  premium  to  perjury  and  fraud. 

Your  Petitioners  also  consider  this  law  as  dangerous  to  liberty; 
because  the  powers  necessarily  vested  in  the  officers  for  the  col 
lection  of  so  odious  a  revenue  are  not  only  unusual,  but  incom 
patible  with  the  free  enjoyment  of  domestic  peace  and  private 
property ;  because  these  powers,  to  prevent  evasions  of  the  duty, 
must  pursue  the  endless  subtleties  of  the  human  mind,  and  be 
almost  infinitely  increased ;  and  because  we  are  apprehensive 
that  this  excise  will  by  degrees  be  extended  to  other  articles  of 
consumption,  until  everything  we  eat,  drink,  or  wear  be,  as  in 
England  and  other  European  countries,  subjected  to  heavy  duties 
and  the  obnoxious  inspection  of  an  host  of  officers. 

Destitute  of  information  of  the  real  deficiencies  of  the  reve 
nues  of  the  United  States,  of  the  proportion  which  the  probable 
proceeds  of  the  excise  bear  to  them,  and  doubtful  whether  those 
deficiencies  could  not  have  been  supplied  by  other  resources 
sufficiently  productive  and  less  obnoxious  and  oppressive,  we 
want  those  motives  which  alone  can  reconcile  us  to  the  collection 
of  a  duty  so  odious  in  its  nature  and  dangerous  in  its  tendency. 

Our  peculiar  situation  renders  this  duty  still  more  unequal 
and  oppressive  to  us.  Distant  from  a  permanent  market,  and 
separate  from  the  eastern  coast  by  mountains  which  render  the 
communication  difficult  and  almost  impracticable,  we  have  no 
means  of  bringing  the  produce  of  our  lands  to  sale  either  in 
grain  or  in  meal.  We  are  therefore  distillers  through  necessity, 
not  choice,  that  we  may  comprehend  the  greatest  value  in  the 
smallest  size  and  weight. 


4  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1794. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  eastern  side  of  the  mountains  can  dis 
pose  of  their  grain  without  the  additional  labor  of  distillation 
at  a  higher  price  than  we  can,  after  we  have  bestowed  that  labor 
upon  it.  Yet  with  this  additional  labor  we  must  also  pay  a 
high  duty  from  which  they  are  exempted,  because  we  have  no 
means  of  selling  our  surplus  produce  but  in  a  distilled  state. 

Another  circumstance  which  renders  this  duty  ruinous  to  us 
is  our  scarcity  of  cash.  Our  commerce  is  not,  as  on  the  eastern 
coast,  carried  on  so  much  by  absolute  sale  as  by  barter,  and  we 
believe  it  to  be  a  fact  that  there  is  not  among  us  a  quantity  of 
circulating  cash  sufficient  for  the  payment  of  this  duty  alone. 

We  are  not  accustomed  to  complain  without  reason ;  we  have 
punctually  and  cheerfully  paid  former  taxes  on  our  estates  and 
possessions,  because  they  were  proportioned  to  our  real  wealth. 
We  believe  this  to  be  founded  on  no  such  equitable  principles, 
and  are  persuaded  that  your  Honorable  House  will  find  on  in 
vestigation  that  its  amount,  if  duly  collected,  will  be  four  times 
as  large  as  any  taxes  which  we  have  hitherto  paid  on  the  whole 
of  our  lands  and  other  property. 

Submitting  these  considerations  to  your  honorable  body,  we 
respectfully  apply  for  a  total  repeal  of  the  law,  or  for  such  modi 
fications  thereof  as  would  render  its  principles  more  congenial 
to  the  nature  of  a  free  government,  and  its  operation  upon  us 
less  unequal  and  oppressive.  And  as  in  duty  bound  shall  for 
ever  pray,  &c. 


DECLARATION  OF  THE  COMMITTEES  OF  FAYETTE  COUNTY,  SEPTEM 
BER,  1794. 

At  a  meeting  of  committees  from  the  several  townships  of 
the  county  of  Fayette,  held  at  Uniontown  the  10th  day  of  Sep 
tember,  1794,  twenty-one  members  present; 

The  following  declaration  was  taken  into  consideration  and 
unanimously  adopted  by  the  meeting : 

W^e  trust  that  the  citizens  of  Fayette  County  will  feel  no  more 
reluctance  in  declaring  their  intention  to  submit  to  the  laws  of 
the  United  States  than  we  do  in  making  the  declarations  required 


1794.  LETTEES,    ETC.  5 

by  the  Commissioners.  It  is  doing  no  more  than  expressing  by 
a  vote  what  the  great  body  of  them  have  heretofore  proved  by 
their  conduct.  We  think  it,  however,  our  duty  to  state  to  them 
some  of  the  reflections  which  must  suggest  themselves  to  every 
thinking  mind  upon  the  present  occasion.  That  if  the  western 
counties  will  resist  the  execution  of  the  laws,  a  civil  war  must 
be  the  consequence,  no  person,  who  will  reflect,  can  doubt;  for 
if  any  one  part  of  the  Union  are  suffered  to  oppose  by  force 
the  determination  of  the  whole,  there  is  an  end  to  government 
itself,  and  of  course  to  the  Union.  The  excise  law  is  obnoxious 
to  us,  another  law  may  equally  be  so  in  another  part,  a  third  one 
in  a  different  quarter,  and  if  every  corner  of  the  United  States 
claim  a  right  to  oppose  what  they  dislike,  no  one  law  will  be 
obeyed.  The  existence  of  government,  therefore,  depends  upon 
the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  they  are  in  duty  bound  to  enforce 
it.  The  President  has,  in  consequence,  sent  Commissioners,  in 
the  first  place  to  try  by  conciliatory  means  to  obtain  a  submis 
sion  ;  but  if  it  is  not  so  obtained,  he  will  proceed  by  coercion. 
We  could  have  wished,  indeed,  that  more  time  had  been  given 
to  the  people  to  reflect,  and  we  think  that  in  this  country  it 
would  have  had  a  happy  effect ;  for  we  are  sure  that  arguments 
and  the  good  sense  of  the  people  themselves,  provided  they  had 
time  to  cool,  would  have  a  greater  influence  in  convincing  their 
minds  than  the  fear  of  bayonets  will.  But  the  President  was 
better  acquainted  with  the  general  situation  of  the  United  States 
(though  perhaps  less  with  that  of  this  country)  than  we  can  pre 
tend  to  be.  He  has  thought  it  his  duty,  and  he  has  declared  it 
to  be  his  intention,  to  attempt  a  military  coercion,  if  an  explicit 
answer  is  not  now  given.  He  cannot  at  present  recede  without 
exposing  government,  and  it  remains  with  us  only  to  consider 
what  the  consequences  will  be  if  resistance  is  attempted  by  the 
people. 

We  might  expatiate  on  the  improbability  that  such  a  small 
number  as  the  inhabitants  of  the  Western  country,  unprepared 
as  they  are  for  such  an  event,  having  but  a  scanty  supply  of 
arms  and  ammunition,  and  with  the  Indians  on  their  back,  could 
succeed  against  the  whole  force  of  the  Union.  We  might  rep 
resent  how  ruinous,  at  all  events,  to  this  country  a  contest  would 


6  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1794. 

be.  But  your  judgment  and  your  patriotism  we  mean  to  address, 
and  not  your  fears.  Resistance  by  force  against  oppression  is 
lawful  only  when  no  legal  and  constitutional  remedy  is  within 
the  reach  of  the  people,  and  when  the  evils  arising  from  the 
oppression  are  excessive,  when  they  far  surpass  those  that  must 
ensue  from  the  resistance.  Such  was  the  case  of  America  at  the 
beginning,  of  the  Revolution,  when  they  took  up  arms  against 
Great  Britain.  Such  was  the  case  of  France  when  they  overset 
their  despotic  government.  Can  the  situation  of  the  people  of 
America  or  of  France  on  those  two  occasions  be  compared  to 
our  own  at  present  ?  You  had  your  full  share  of  representation 
in  the  Legislature  which  enacted  the  law  we  complain  of.  You 
are  not  deprived  of  the  right  of  electing  in  future  for  that  body 
the  proportion  of  members  your  population  entitles  you  to. 
Every  mode  of  redress  which  can  exist  under  a  republican  form 
of  government  is  still  open  to  you.  Violence  and  resistance  on 
your  part  would  be  the  attempt  of  a  minority  to  overrule,  and, 
in  fact,  to  oppress  the  majority  of  the  people  of  the  United 
States ;  an  attempt  to  destroy  every  principle  of  that  constitu 
tional  and  rational  liberty  which  we  now  enjoy.  But,  supposing 
there  were  some  cases  in  which  intolerable  oppression  on  the 
part  of  the  majority  would  justify  resistance  or  secession  in  the 
minority,  is  the  present  one  of  them?  The  question  which 
every  man  before  he  decides  must  answer  is  this, — Is  the  oppres 
sion  arising  from  the  excise  law  sufficient  to  justify  me,  before 
my  own  conscience  and  my  God,  in  taking  up  arms  against  my 
fellow-citizens  ?  Are  the  evils  that  will  arise  from  the  payment 
of  that  tax  equal  to  those  which  a  war  must  bring  upon  myself 
and  upon  my  country  ?  What  is  then  the  just  value  of  the  oppres 
sion  and  evils  arising  from  the  excise  law  ?  Nothing  more  nor  less, 
at  present,  than  paying  seven  cents  for  every  gallon  of  whiskey  we 
consume.  We  feel  the  probable  consequences  of  that  kind  of 
taxation,  once  introduced,  as  warmly  as  you  do  yourselves.  We 
think  it  a  part  of  a  more  extensive  system,  and  we  look  upon  it 
only  as  the  forerunner  of  a  premeditated  extension  to  numerous 
other  articles.  But  those  consequences,  however  probable,  have 
not  yet  taken  place ;  and  although,  from  a  fear  of  their  ensuing, 
we  have  a  right  to  be  suspicious  and  to  use  our  best  endeavors  to 


1794.  LETTERS,    ETC.  7 

have  the  root  of  the  fatal  tree  eradicated,  yet  we  cannot  count  sus 
picions  and  fears  amongst  our  present  grievances  and  oppressions, 
and  it  is  only  in  case  they  shall  be  realized  that  it  may  become 
justifiable  to  resent  and  perhaps  to  resist.  Till  then  we  must 
take  things  just  as  they  are,  and  the  actual  evil,  as  already  stated, 
will  be  the  mere  payment  of  the  duty ;  for  as  to  that  oppression 
more  dangerous  to  your  liberties  than  the  excise  law  itself,  the 
power  of  dragging  you  at  a  distance  from  your  own  neighbor 
hoods  in  order  to  be  tried  for  real  or  supposed  offences,  the  Presi 
dent  has  declared  that  he  will  relinquish  its  exercise  as  long  as 
our  own  courts  shall  do  justice, — that  is  to  say,  as  long  as  your 
selves  shall  please, — for  upon  you,  who  compose  those  courts  and 
juries,  must  depend  whether  justice  shall  be  done  or  not.  That 
great  and  important  point  is,  therefore,  fully  obtained,  that 
grievance  is  now  redressed,  and  the  payment  of  the  duty  alone 
must  be  put  in  the  scale  against  all  the  evils  arising  from  resist 
ance  and  a  civil  war.  Those  evils,  in  our  opinion,  are  nothing 
less  than  anarchy  and  ruin  to  ourselves,  be  the  event  what  it 
will,  and  a  probable  annihilation  of  the  Union  ;  for,  in  order  to 
conciliate  so  many  and  various  interests  as  those  of  the  several 
parts  of  the  Union,  mutual  forbearance,  manifestations  of  good 
will  one  to  another,  and  reciprocal  acts  of  friendship  are  as  essen 
tially  necessary  as  a  strict  adherence  to  that  Constitution  which 
binds  us  together;  and  if  ever  the  fatal  lesson  is  taught  the 
inhabitants  of  this  extensive  republic  to  shed  one  another's  blood, 
we  may  forever  bid  farewell  to  harmony,  to  mutual  confidence, 
and  to  peace.  The  seeds  of  dissension,  a  spirit  of  hatred  and 
revenge,  will  be  implanted  in  every  man's  heart,  and  whatever 
might  be  the  future  duration  of  a  nominal  Union,  its  reality 
would  no  longer  exist.  If,  therefore,  you  wish  to  preserve  to 
yourselves  and  to  your  fellow-citizens  the  inestimable  benefits 
that  arise  from  our  being  united ;  if  you  wish,  through  the 
Union,  to  obtain,  by  a  restoration  of  the  Western  posts  and  a  free 
navigation  of  the  Mississippi,  the  full  enjoyment  of  those  advan 
tages  to  which  nature  has  entitled  you ;  if  you  wish  not  to  de 
stroy,  along  with  the  federal  republic  of  North  America,  the 
finest  monument  which  men  have  yet  erected  to  liberty ;  if  you 
wish  not  to  become  a  prey  to  your  natural  enemies,  the  British, 


g  WEITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1794. 

ready  to  take  every  advantage  of  our  internal  dissensions  and 
to  hunt  down  liberty  in  every  corner  of  the  globe,  we  entreat 
you  to  accede  to  the  honorable  terms  proposed  by  the  Commis 
sioners,  and  not  to  hesitate  in  giving  that  testimony  of  your 
attachment  to  your  country  which  is  at  present  required  of  you. 

By  such  an  explicit  declaration  you  will  adopt  the  best  possi 
ble  means  to  obtain  a  repeal  of  the  law,  for  previous  submission 
is  essentially  necessary,  that  our  friends  and  the  friends  of  our 
principles  throughout  the  Union  may  act  in  concert  with  us. 
We  cannot  expect  either  that  they  will  join  any  but  consti 
tutional  measures,  or  that  Congress  should  yield  anything  to 
threats  and  violence,  or  even  hear  our  complaints,  until  they  are 
satisfied  of  our  disposition  to  obey  the  laws.  The  privilege  of 
petitioning  and  of  adopting  any  other  constitutional  measure  is 
expressly  reserved  to  you  in  case  of  submission,  but  cannot  be 
exercised  except  in  that  case.  Time  does  not  permit  us  to  detail 
the  many  other  reflections  and  arguments  which  crowd  on  our 
minds  upon  this  subject,  your  own  good  sense  will  doubtless 
suggest  them  to  you ;  suffice  it  to  say,  that  when  we  earnestly 
recommend  to  you  the  adoption  of  pacific  measures,  we  feel 
ourselves  forcibly  urged  to  it  by  a  serious  consideration  of  the 
private  interest  of  every  individual  amongst  you,  of  the  interest 
of  the  "Western  country,  of  the  interest  of  the  United  States,  and 
of  that  solemn  duty  which  you,  as  well  as  ourselves,  owe  to  the 
government  under  which  we  live,  to  our  fellow-citizens  here  and 
throughout  the  Union,  and  to  that  Being  who  has  poured  His 
choicest  blessings  upon  us,  by  permitting  us  to  live  in  this  land 
of  happiness  and  liberty. 

Having  thus  concluded  what  we  had  to  say  to  our  immediate 
constituents,  shall  we  be  permitted  to  add  a  few  words  to  those 
amongst  our  brethren  of  the  neighboring  counties  who,  under 
the  present  impulse  of  their  passions  and  resentment,  may  per 
haps  blame  us  for  that  moderation  which  we  trust  their  cool 
judgment  will  hereafter  approve?  The  only  reflection  we  mean 
to  suggest  to  them  is  the  disinterestedness  of  our  conduct  upon 
this  occasion.  The  indictable  offences,  to  be  buried  in  oblivion, 
were  committed  amongst  them,  and  almost  every  civil  suit  that 
had  been  instituted,  under  the  revenue  law,  in  the  federal  court 


1794.  LETTERS,    ETC.  9 

was  commenced  against  citizens  of  this  county.  By  the  terms 
proposed,  the  criminal  prosecutions  are  to  be  dropt,  but  no  con 
dition  could  be  obtained  for  the  civil  suits.  We  have  been  in 
strumental  in  obtaining  an  amnesty,  from  which  those  alone  who 
had  a  share  in  the  riots  derive  a  benefit,  and  the  other  inhabitants 
of  the  Western  country  have  gained  nothing  for  themselves. 
Have  those  who  were  immediately  concerned  a  right  to  require 
anything  more  from  us  ?  Let  themselves  give  the  answer. 
This  address,  we  know,  cannot  reach  them  till  after  the  time 
when  they  shall  have  given  their  vote ;  but  if,  contrary  to  our 
expectations,  there  shall  be  any  townships  that  shall  have  ex 
pressed  sentiments  different  from  our  own,  we  entreat  them  by 
every  tie  of  common  interest  and  fraternal  union  that  connects 
us  to  reconsider  their  proceedings,  to  recede  before  it  is  too  late, 
to  avert  from  themselves  and  their  country  the  horrors  of  a  civil 
war,  to  relinquish  every  idea  of  violence  and  of  resistance,  and 
to  join  us  in  those  legal  and  constitutional  measures  which  alone 
can  procure  us  redress,  and  which  alone  are  justifiable  in  our 
present  circumstances. 

Signed  by  order  of  the  committee, 

JOHN  McGAURRAUH,  Chairman. 
Attest :        ALBERT  GALLATIN,  Secretary. 


GALLATIN   TO   GOVERNOR   MIFFLIN. 

17th  September,  1 

SIR, — I  am  directed  by  the  committee  of  townships  for  this 
county  to  transmit  to  you  a  copy  of  the  declarations  agreed  upon 
by  them  on  the  10th  instant,  which  were  read  on  the  following 
day  to  the  people  convened  in  their  respective  election  districts, 
and  the  return  of  the  sense  of  the  people  of  this  county  on  the 
question  of  submission,  so  far  as  we  have  yet  been  able  to  ascer 
tain  it.  We  have,  through  every  step  during  the  course  of  the 
late  disturbances,  taken  those  measures  which,  from  our  knowl 
edge  of  the  sentiments  of  the  people  and  of  the  heat  which 
prevailed  among  them,  appeared  to  us  best  calculated  to  allay 


10  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1794. 

by  degrees  the  flame,  to  promote  peace  and  submission  to  the 
laws,  and  to  preserve  this  country  and  Pennsylvania  from  the 
disgraceful  necessity  of  a  recourse  to  military  coercion;  and  we 
are  happy  to  be  able  to  inform  you  that  the  present  appearances 
are  as  favorable  as  we  had  any  right  to  expect.  It  was  an 
effort  too  great,  perhaps,  to  be  expected  from  human  nature  that 
people  should  at  once  pass  from  an  avowed  intention  of  resisting 
to  the  signing  a  test  of  absolute  submission,  and  to  a  promise 
of  giving  active  support  to  the  laws.  The  change  could  be  oper 
ated  only  by  degrees;  and  after  having  convinced  the  under 
standing  of  the  most  enlightened,  it  was  a  more  difficult  task 
to  persuade  those  whose  prejudices  were  more  deeply  rooted  and 
means  of  information  less  extensive.  The  great  body  of  the 
people,  which  consist  of  moderate  men,  were  also  for  some  time 
afraid  to  discover  their  sentiments,  from  a  want  of  knowledge  of 
their  own  strength,  and  were  in  fact  kept  in  awe  by  the  few 
violent  men.  This  was  one  of  the  principal  reasons  which  pre 
vented  so  many  from  attending  the  general  meetings  on  the  day 
on  which  the  sense  of  the  people  was  taken ;  to  which  may  be 
added,  in  this  county,  the  unconcern  of  a  great  number  of  mod 
erate  men,  who,  having  followed  peaceably  their  occupations 
during  the  whole  time  of  the  disturbances,  did  not  think  them 
selves  interested  in  the  event,  and  were  not  sufficiently  aware 
of  the  importance  of  the  question  to  the  whole  country.  Al 
though,  however,  all  the  warmest  persons  attended,  we  had  a  very 
large  and  decided  majority  amongst  the  actual  voters,  and  great 
many  of  those  who  had  come  with  an  intention  of  testifying 
their  intention  to  resist  were  convinced  by  the  arguments  made 
use  of,  though  their  pride  would  not  suffer  them  to  make  a 
public  retractation  on  the  moment,  and  they  went  off  without 
giving  any  vote.  A  very  favorable  and  decisive  change  has 
taken  place  since,  and  has  indeed  been  the  result  of  the  event 
of  that  day.  The  general  disposition  seems  to  be  to  submit,  and 
great  many  are  now  signing  the  proposals  of  the  Commissioners, 
not  only  in  the  neighboring  counties,  but  even  in  this,  where  we 
had  not  thought  it  necessary.  We  have,  therefore,  thought  the 
moment  was  come  for  the  people  to  act  with  more  vigor,  and  to 
show  something  more  than  mere  passive  obedience  to  the  laws, 


1794.  LETTERS,    ETC.  H 

and  we  have  recommended  associations  for  the  purpose  of  pre 
serving  order  and  of  supporting  the  civil  authority  by  the  reso 
lutions  herein  enclosed,  and  which  we  hope  will  be  attended 
with  salutary  effects.  As  whatever  heat  existed  in  this  county 
was  chiefly  owing  to  what  had  passed  in  the  neighboring  counties, 
we  have  no  doubt  of  peace  being  fully  re-established  and  a  per 
fect  submission  taking  place  here,  provided  it  is  not  interrupted 
by  some  new  acts  of  violence  elsewhere.  It  is  well  known  that 
from  sundry  local  causes,  which  we  have  not  now  time  to  detail, 
the  heat  was  much  greater  there  than  amongst  us ;  but  there, 
also,  it  was  confined  to  a  certain  number,  and  we  have  the  best 
information  of  its  daily  subsiding.  Still,  however,  a  certain 
degree  does  exist  both  here  and  in  the  other  western  counties, 
and  some  time  will  be  necessary  to  operate  a  complete  restora 
tion  of  order  and  a  perfect  submission  to  the  laws.  The  great 
question  now  is,  whether  there  are  sufficient  assurances  of  that 
submission  and  of  its  sincerity  to  justify  government  in  not 
making  use  of  military  coercion.  Mr.  James  Lang,  one  of  our 
number,  and  whose  efforts  for  the  restoration  of  peace  have 
been  unremitted  during  the  whole  course  of  the  late  disturb 
ances,  has  undertaken  to  deliver  this  letter  and  the  enclosed 
papers,  and  we  must  beg  leave  to  refer  you  to  him  for  a  full 
communication  of  our  sentiments  on  that  head.  We  will  only 
observe  that  punishment  of  past  offences  cannot  be  now  the 
design  of  government,  since  all  those  who  might  have  been 
proper  objects  of  resentment  have  taken  advantage  of  the  pro 
posals  of  the  Commissioners  by  signing  the  declaration  required ; 
and  that  if  the  submission  is  not  sincere  now,  military  coercion, 
although  it  may,  by  operating  on  the  fears  of  the  people,  cause 
a  more  general  and  temporary  acquiescence,  will,  so  far  from 
rendering  it  more  sincere,  increase  the  discontents,  embitter  the 
minds,  and  disgust  many  good  citizens,  so  that  if  there  is  any 
danger  of  new  outrages  being  again  committed,  that  danger 
will  be  the  greatest  the  moment  the  military  force  is  withdrawn. 
When  to  that  observation  we  add  the  consideration  of  the  possi 
bility  of  tumults  and  riots  breaking  out  on  the  approach  of  an 
army,  even  if  its  march  did  not  again  promote  actual  resistance ; 
of  the  danger  to  which  those  citizens  who  have  taken  an  active 


12  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1794. 

part  in  restoring  peace  will  be  thus  exposed ;  of  the  difficulty 
the  officers  will  find  in  restraining  a  militia,  but  newly  organized, 
and  inflamed  by  exaggerated  representations,  from  committing 
outrages  against  the  innocent  citizens ;  when  we  reflect  on  the 
necessity  of  cultivating  harmony  between  the  different  States 
and  between  the  different  parts  of  the  same  State,  and  on  the 
local  reasons  which  enjoin  that  duty  still  more  forcibly  in  regard 
to  the  Western  country ;  when,  finally,  we  recollect  the  peculiar 
situation  of  this  country,  once  claimed  by  Virginia,  and  the 
danger  of  old  broils  and  intestine  dissensions  being  again  re 
newed,  we  cannot  too  explicitly  express  our  opinion  that  nothing 
less  than  a  conviction  that  submission  cannot  be  obtained  through 
any  other  means,  and  that  every  conciliatory  measure  would 
prove  abortive,  can  justify  government  in  adopting  that  last  and 
desperate  resource. 

Under  the  impression  of  those  sentiments  we  have,  we  trust, 
discharged  our  duty  as  citizens  by  taking  the  most  active  part 
in  trying  to  compose  the  disturbances,  and  we  mean  to  persevere 
to  the  last  in  our  endeavors,  be  the  event  what  it  will.  We  are 
also  fully  sensible  of  the  propriety  of  the  measures  heretofore 
adopted,  and  of  the  paternal  indulgence  shown  by  the  President 
and  by  yourself  in  everything  relative  to  this  unfortunate  busi 
ness,  and  the  confidence  we  have  in  both  the  State  and  General 
Government  convinces  us  that  nothing  but  dire  necessity  will 
induce  them  to  embrace  a  measure  which  must  unavoidably  be 
attended  with  great  mischiefs ;  and  that  if  they  think  themselves 
bound  in  duty  to  do  it,  they  will  use  every  method  to  lessen 
the  evil,  by  not  sending  troops  from  another  State  unless  those 
of  this  State  are  found  insufficient;  by  subjecting  them  to  the 
strictest  discipline;  by  rendering  them  altogether  subservient 
to  the  civil  authority  alone,  and  by  putting  them  under  the 
command  of  an  officer  who,  as  a  man,  as  a  citizen,  and  as  a 
friend  to  order  and  discipline,  may,  as  far  as  it  is  possible  with 
such  a  commission,  attract  the  confidence  of  the  people  amongst 
whom  he  shall  be  obliged  to  act. 


1798.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  13 


GALLATIN  TO   LEWIS   F.   DELESDERNIER.i 

PHILADELPHIA,  May  25,  1798. 

MY  DEAK  SIR, — I  received  yours  in  due  time,  and  now  en 
close  a  copy  of  the  Act,  and  also  a  memorandum  in  which  I 
have  recapitulated  such  of  the  most  important  proofs  which  it 
appears  to  me  you  should  be  provided  with.  You  must  read 
both  the  law  and  the  memorandum,  and  not  fail  in  collecting 
all  the  necessary  documents,  and  transmit  them,  if  possible,  be 
fore  next  December,  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  together  with 
every  such  additional  proof  and  papers  in  support  of  your  sac 
rifices,  sufferings,  and  services  as  may  not  have  suggested  itself 
to  my  mind,  and  which  you  may  think  of  as  being  proper  on 
the  occasion.  I  say  before  next  December,  because  I  will  desire 
you  to  send  me  at  the  same  time  a  copy  of  all  the  papers  you 
send  to  the  Secretary,  so  as  to  give  me  an  opportunity  to  examine 
them,  and  to  write  to  you  back  for  every  additional  paper  in 
which,  upon  inquiry,  I  may  find  you  have  been  deficient. 

You  may  see  by  the  Act  that  the  highest  class  are  to  be  en 
titled  to  one  thousand  acres,  and  it  must  be  your  endeavor,  by 
supplying  the  most  numerous  proofs  of  your  services  (which,  in 
regard  to  you,  I  take  it  to  be  a  stronger  ground  than  either  your 
sacrifices  or  your  sufferings),  so  as  to  have  you  placed  in  that  class. 
In  respect  to  your  deceased  brother  John,  I  do  not  believe  that 
he  can  be  entitled  to  be  placed  over  the  lowest  class,  viz.,  one 
hundred  acres ;  and  as  to  your  father,  I  am  afraid  by  the  word 
ing  of  the  Act,  that,  having  returned  to  Nova  Scotia  in  1782  or 
1783,  he  is  altogether  excluded.  Yet  upon  the  ground  of  his 
having  returned  to  the  United  States  within  a  short  time  after, 
which  shows  that  he  did  not  return  to  Nova  Scotia  to  reside 
therein,  according  to  the  excluding  words  of  the  Act,  and  also  on 
the  ground  of  his  having  been  actually  in  service  as  interpreter, 
the  best  that  can  be  done  must  be  done,  in  order  to  attempt  to 
have  him  placed  on  the  list.  I  will  add  that  it  may  not  be 
improper  for  you  to  furnish  also  proof  of  your  not  being  rich, 

1  Maine  Hist.  Soc.  Publications,  vol.  vi.  art.  iv. 


14  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1798. 

and  having  a  large  family,  and  it  is  on  that  account  that,  amongst 
the  other  proofs  which  I  have  mentioned  in  the  memorandum, 
I  have  stated  that  your  father  and  mother  have  been  supported 
by  you  for  a  length  of  time  (which,  although  I  do  not  know  it, 
I  suppose  probable) ;  because,  in  case  they  are  excluded  them 
selves,  yet  that  circumstance  and  their  sufferings  will  be  argu 
ments  in  your  favor  to  have  your  case  placed  in  the  highest  class. 
I  cannot  say  that  it  will  be  in  my  power  to  be  of  any  assist 
ance  to  you  in  that  stage  of  the  business,  beyond  advising  you 
from  time  to  time  of  the  steps  to  be  taken  by  you,  and  objections 
which  may  be  started,  as  also  of  the  best  way  to  remedy  them. 
For  the  violence  of  party  is  such  at  present  that  it  is  much  to  be 
doubted  whether  my  interference  might  not  be  more  hurtful  than 
beneficial  to  you  with  the  three  officers  who  are,  according  to 
the  Act,  to  decide  on  the  merits  of  the  respective  cases.  Yet  I 
will  act  according  to  circumstances,  and  if  I  think  it  can  be  done 
to  advantage,  will  add  my  affidavit  as  to  the  facts  I  know,  and 
every  assistance  I  possibly  can  give,  to  the  other  proofs  you  may 
send.  But  it  will  be  more  prudent  in  the  first  instance  for  you 
to  send  your  papers  to  the  proper  officer  without  my  appearing 
in  it.  There  are  two  steps  in  that  business  I  would  advise  you 
to  take,  besides  getting  all  the  testimonies  from  the  most  respect 
able  inhabitants  in  your  favor,  which  you  must  by  no  means 
neglect.  The  first  is,  to  write  to  Mr.  Parker,  your  representative 
in  Congress,  and  to  request  him  to  attend  to  your  business,  send 
ing  him  also  a  copy  of  the  papers  which  you  shall  have  procured 
and  sent  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  stating  to  him  your  and  your 
family's  case,  and  getting  from  some  gentleman,  friendly  to  you, 
and  who  may  be  personally,  acquainted  with  him,  a  letter  of 
recommendation  for  him.  The  second  is,  to  write  to  that  officer 
of  the  Treasury  Department  with  whom  you  are  in  the  habit  of 
corresponding  as  naval  officer  (whether  it  be  the  Secretary  or 
Comptroller)  a  letter  recommending  your  case  to  his  examina 
tion,  and  stating  as  briefly  and  clearly  as  you  can  the  principal 
circumstances  of  your  case,  referring  him  for  details  to  your  papers 
sent  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  according  to  the  directions  of  the 
law.  This  is  all  that  now  strikes  me  as  important ;  but  if,  after 
having  read  my  letter,  the  memorandum,  and  the  law,  you  want 


1798.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  15 

any  further  explanation,  write  me  about  it,  directing  your  letter, 
if  you  write  during  the  session  of  Congress,  to  Philadelphia,  and 
if  after,  to  Uniontown,  Pennsylvania.  After  the  business  of  de 
ciding  upon  the  quantity  of  land  to  which  you  may  be  entitled 
shall  have  been  fixed,  which  cannot  take  place  before  eighteen 
months  at  least,  the  next  thing  to  be  done  will  be  to  locate  the 
land.  The  manner  in  which  it  shall  be  done  is  not  yet  deter 
mined,  and  is  extremely  important,  on  account  of  the  differences 
in  the  quality  and  value  of  the  land  in  the  North- West  Territory. 
But  in  whatever  manner  it  may  be  done,  I  will  be  able  in  that 
stage  of  the  business  to  be  of  some  use  to  you,  as  I  live  in  that 
part  of  the  country,  and  am  well  acquainted  with  the  lands  and 
their  respective  value.  I  need  not  add  how  extremely  welcome 
you  will  be  to  any  services  I  can  render  you. 

Indeed,  my  dear  friend,  I  have  not  forgotten,  I  never  will 
forget  you,  nor  your  parents ;  I  feel  for  their  afflictions,  and  it 
has  distressed  me  not  a  little  that  my  situation  did  not  permit 
me  to  alleviate  their  sufferings.  I  remember  all  of  you,  I  often 
think  of  you,  and  never  would  I  do  it  without  pleasure  were 
not  that  emotion  checked  by  the  regret  I  feel  at  your  misfortunes. 
I  flatter  myself  that  I  cannot  but  meet  with  similar  sentiments 
for  me  in  your  breasts,  and  therefore  will  give  you  a  short  account 
of  myself  since  we  last  parted,  which,  as  you  know,  was  at  Provi 
dence,  in  1783.  You  ask  me  about  our  friend  Serre :  he  has 
been  dead  near  fifteen  years,  for  having  gone  to  Jamaica  a  very 
few  months  after  you  saw  him  last,  he  died  there,  almost  imme 
diately  after  his  arrival,  of  one  of  the  fevers  generated  by  that 
climate.  I  stayed  myself  in  Virginia  with  Mr.  Savary  till  the 
spring  of  1784,  when  I  went  to  the  Western  country,  sometimes 
called  the  Ohio  country,  and  remained  there  two  years,  in  locating 
and  directing  the  surveys  of  a  quantity  of  land  for  myself,  Mr. 
Savary,  and  others.  In  1786,  being  twenty-five  years  old,  I  re 
ceived  from  Geneva  my  small  patrimony,  and  purchased  a  plan 
tation  of  about  four  hundred  acres,  on  which  I  have  lived  ever 
since.  It  lies  in  Fayette  County,  State  of  Pennsylvania,  on  the 
east  bank  of  Monongahela  River,  which  empties  into  the  Ohio  at 
Pittsburgh.  I  am  a  bad  farmer,  and  have  been  unfortunate  in 
some  mercantile  pursuits  I  had  embraced.  I  have  just  made  out 


16  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1798. 

to  live  independent,  and  am  neither  richer  nor  poorer  than  I  was 
twelve  years  ago ;  the  fact  is,  I  am  not  well  calculated  to  make 
money, — I  care  but  little  about  it,  for  I  want  but  little  for  myself, 
and  my  mind  pursues  other  objects  with  more  pleasure  than  mere 
business.  Most  of  my  time,  indeed,  has  been  employed  in  reading 
and  in  improving  myself  as  well  as  I  could.  In  1789  I  married, 
but  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  my  wife  after  six  months'  mar 
riage.  The  same  year  I  was  elected  a  member  of  the  convention 
which  formed  the  Constitution  of  Pennsylvania,  and  from  that 
time  till  now  I  have  been  always  a  member  either  of  the  Legisla 
ture  of  this  State  or  a  member  of  Congress.  In  that  political  life 
some  acquirements  and  a  tolerable  share  of  attention  to  public 
business  have  rendered  me  more  conspicuous  than  I  could  have 
expected,  but  without  increasing  my  happiness,  and  still  less  my 
fortune.  Yet  I  feel  very  far  from  being  unhappy,  for  in  1793 
I  married  a  very  amiable  and  lovely  wife, — her  parents  and  con 
nections  are  respectable  and  much  attached  to  me, — by  her  I  have 
only  one  son,  eighteen  months  old, — and  enjoying  thus  much 
domestic  happiness,  without  being  rich,  I  have  certainly  no  room 
fto  complain.  As  to  my  political  character,  during  these  violent 
party  times  no  man  could  expect  the  approbation  of  all.  Mine 
is  praised  by  some  and  abused  by  others.  But  you  may  perhaps 
remember  that  I  am  blessed  with  a  very  even  temper;  it  has  not 
been  altered  by  time  or  politics,  and  I  quietly  pursue  that  line 
of  conduct  which  to  my  weak  judgment  appears  to  be  the  best 
for  the  welfare  of  that  country  which  has  granted  me  a  generous 
asylum  and  entrusted  me  with  its  most  important  concerns.  I 
am  sensible  that  I  am  liable  to  error,  as  liable  as  any  other  man, 
but  I  do  not  believe  that  I  am  very  apt  to  be  led  away  by  pas 
sion  or  to  be  blinded  by  enthusiasm  or  prejudice  in  favor  of  any 
modern  system;  and  to  you,  I  am  sure,  I  need  not  say  that  the 
integrity  of  my  heart  and  the  innocence  of  my  manners  have 
remained  unsullied,  and  remained  the  same  as  you  knew  them 
in  the  days  of  my  youth.  Indeed,  I  have  said  so  much  only 
because  far  too  much  credit  has  been  given  me  for  abilities  at 
the  expense  of  the  purity  of  my  motives. 

I  forgot  to  mention  that  in  the  year  1788,  in  February,  I  went 
— being  then  at  Boston — to  Wiscasset,  and  had  an  intention  to  go 


1798.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  17 

and  pay  you  a  visit.  But  the  severity  of  the  season,  the 
difficulty  of  finding  a  conveyance,  and  hearing  that  you  had 
gone  to  Boston,  prevented  me  from  pursuing  my  journey  any 
farther.  When  you  write  again  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear  more 
particularly  about  your  situation.  Have  you  any  farm  belong 
ing  to  you  ?  In  what  part  of  Passamaquoddy  do  you  reside  ? 
Has  the  country  grown  very  populous  ?  Which  of  the  islands 
belong  to  the  United  States,  and  which  to  England  ? 

I  wish  to  be  most  kindly  remembered  to  your  parents.  I 
cannot  express  how  much  I  wish  their  situation  might  be 
bettered,  how  much  I  regret  my  own  incapacity  in  assisting 
them.  I  trust  your  worthy  mother  finds  in  a  reliance  on  a 
kind  Providence,  and  resignation  to  the  will  of  her  heavenly 
Father,  that  consolation  which  no  human  being  could  afford  her 
under  the  pressure  of  her  afflictions.  Give  her,  I  beg  you,  the 
assurances  of  my  most  affectionate  respect.  What  shall  I  say 
about  your  poor  father  ?  It  is  better  for  me  to  be  silent,  for  I 
would  only  distress  both  you  and  myself  by  dwelling  on  that 
sad  subject.  Yet  I  feel  a  strong  desire  to  be  more  particularly 
informed  about  his  situation.  Is  it  only  by  times  that  he  is 
afflicted  ?  You  have  said  nothing  about  your  wife :  I  have  not 
forgotten  her,  and  desire  you  to  give  her  my  best  compliments. 

I  wish  you  had  let  me  know  the  name  of  the  vessel  in  which 
your  son  George  came,  or  that  you  had  directed  him  to  call  upon 
me.  You  will  easily  judge  that  I  have  but  little  conception  of 
what  he  is  now,  when  I  tell  you  that  I  often  think  of  him  when 
I  play  with  my  child.  I  would  also  be  glad  to  hear  about 
Colonel  Allen  and  his  family,  and  I  wish,  if  in  your  power,  to 
be  kindly  remembered  to  him.  Present  also  my  compliments 
to  the  worthy  Mr.  Jones,  of  Machias,  of  whom  I  have  ever 
preserved  a  grateful  remembrance,  and  also  to  Mr.  Cony  (do  I 
spell  his  name  right  ?),  of  Campobello.  You  see  by  the  length  of 
my  letter  that  I  feel  happy  in  conversing  with  you,  and  I  hope 
it  will  encourage  you  to  renew  and  continue  our  correspondence. 

I  remain  with  sincere  affection. 

Mr.  Savary,  who  usually  lives  within  two  miles  of  me  when 
I  am  at  home,  and  who  is  now  in  this  city,  sends  you  his  com 
pliments. 
VOL.  i.— 3 


18  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 


PLAN  AT  TIME  OF  BALLOTING   FOR   JEFFERSON  AND  BURR.     COM 
MUNICATED  TO  NICHOLAS  AND  MR.  JEFFERSON. 

Objects  of  the . 

1.  To  elect  Mr.  B. 

2.  To  defeat  the  present  election  and  order  a  new  one. 

3.  To  assume  executive  power  during  interregnum. 

The  first  may  be  defeated  by  our  own  firmness.  The  second 
may  be  effected  by  them,  either  by  passing  a  law  or  by  depending 
on  the  present  law  and  an  election  in  December,  and  may,  in 
either  case,  be  defeated,  if  necessary,  without  any  assumption  of 
power  on  our  part,  by  the  next  House  of  Representatives.  For 
the  new  election  cannot  be  completed  and  the  votes  counted  ex 
cept  in  presence  of  the  House  of  Representatives.  Congress  must 
therefore  be  convened  by  themselves,  in  case  of  an  immediate  new 
election,  or  will  be  in  session,  of  course,  in  December  next,  in 
case  of  an  election  taking  its  course  without  law.  In  either  case, 
without  any  act  of  ours,  the  next  House  of  Representatives  shall 
be  at  liberty  to  act  on  the  present  election,  if  that  mode  is  then 
thought  the  most  eligible. 

It  is  not,  therefore,  necessary  for  us  to  assume  the  executive 
power  unless  they  shall  assume  it  themselves. 

The  third  will  at  best  give  them  authority  only  till  December 
next,  and  cannot  secure  to  them  the  next  election.  It  may  be 
effected,  1,  by  law;  2,  by  Mr.  Adams  convening  the  Senate  ;  or, 
3,  by  the  Senate  convening  themselves. 

That  they  shall  pass  any  law  either  on  that  subject  or  on  a 
new  election  appears  extremely  improbable,  because  Mr.  A.  can 
gain  nothing  by  it,  and  because,  having  fifty  Republicans  in  the 
House  against  fifty-five  Federalists,  it  is  hardly  to  be  supposed 
that  we  shall  not  be  able  to  prevent  the  passage  of  any  law ;  for 
those  fifty-five  include  every  doubtful  man,  such  as  Goode, 
Huger,  &c.  If  they  shall,  however,  pass  a  law,  it  will  be  by 
declaring  that  in  any  of  the  cases  of  vacancy  in  the  office  of 
President,  Vice-President,  President  pro  temp.,  and  Speaker,  con 
templated  by  the  Constitution,  the  Chief  Justice,  or  any  other 
officer  designated  by  the  law,  shall  act  as  President,  which  law 
would  be  constitutional. 


1801.  LETTERS,    ETC.  19 

But  whether  the  assumption  be  made  by  law  or  without  it, 
the  act  of  the  person  designated  by  the  law  or  of  the  President 
pro  temp,  assuming  the  power  is  clearly  unconstitutional. 

For  the  Constitution  has  not  provided  any  mode  by  which 
the  Presidential  power  can  be  exercised  except  in  the  specific 
cases  of  vacancy  therein  enumerated. 

If  they  shall  usurp,  for  unconstitutional  assumption  is  usur 
pation,  are  we  to  submit  or  not  ? 

Stronger  reasons  than  any  that  have  yet  been  suggested  could 
[alone?]  justify  a  total  submission.  Any  assumption  on  their 
part  is  usurpation.  Usurpation  must  be  resisted  by  freemen 
whenever  they  have  the  power  of  resisting.  To  admit  a  con 
trary  doctrine  would  justify  submission  in  every  case,  and  en 
courage  usurpation  for  ever  hereafter.  The  mode  of  resisting 
seems  to  be  the  only  question.  In  those  States  where  a  majority 
of  the  people  or  all  the  branches  of  the  State  government  may 
be  determined  to  support  the  usurpation,  the  minority  may  sub 
mit  for  a  while,  because  they  are  under  actual  coercion.  In 
those  States  where  we  may  act,  supported  by  our  State  govern 
ments,  we  shall  run  no  risk  of  civil  war  by  refusing  to  obey 
only  those  acts  which  may  flow  from  the  usurper  as  President. 
Some  delicate  questions  may,  however,  occur  respecting  the 
power  of  courts  and  of  several  officers ;  and  many  inconveni 
ences  must  take  place,  even  in  the  collection  of  duties  and  similar 
laws,  for  want  of  a  power  of  removal,  filling  vacancies,  etc. 
Yet  the  evils  inseparable  from  an  interregnum  may,  by  wisdom 
in  us  and  our  State  governments,  be  rendered  preferable  to  those 
flowing  from  either  total  submission  to  usurpation  on  their  part 
or  from  usurpation  on  our  part. 

And  if  we  do  not  submit,  how  are  we  to  act? 

1.  We  may  either  merely  refuse  to  submit,  declaring  that  we 
consider  the  time  that  shall  elapse  till  the  next  meeting  of  Con 
gress  as  an  interregnum ;  leaving  the  several  Republican  States 
to  act  either  separately  or  jointly,  according  to  circumstances, 
during  the  interval ;  suffering  all  laws  which  are  not  immedi 
ately  connected  with  Presidential  po\vers  (such  as  collection  of 
duties,  payment  of  debt,  &c.)  to  take  their  course;  preventing 
every  partial  insurrection,  or  even  individual  act  of  resistance, 


20  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1801. 

except  when  supported  by  the  laws  of  the  particular  State,  and 
in  opposition  to  any  act  flowing  immediately  from  the  person 
who  shall  have  usurped ;  refusing  to  obey  every  order  from  the 
usurper,  such  as  a  call  of  militia,  &c. ;  declaring  our  intention 
to  have  the  usurper  punished  according  to  law  as  soon  as  regular 
government  shall  have  been  re-established,  &c. 

2.  Or  we  may  assume  the  executive  power  either  by  a  joint 
act  of  the  two  candidates,  or  by  the  relinquishment  of  all  claims 
by  one  of  them.  Considering  that  no  final  danger  can  result  as 
relates  to  a  new  election,  that  the  usurpation  on  their  part  will 
be  temporary,  and  that  the  dangers  of  civil  war,  of  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  Union,  or  of  the  stab  given  to  our  republican  institu 
tions  by  any  assumption  of  power  on  our  part  not  strictly  justified 
by  the  forms  of  our  Constitution,  are  the  greatest  we  have  to 
apprehend ;  would  it  not  be  more  prudent  not  to  have  resort  to 
the  last  mode,  provided  the  first  shall  be  found  practicable  ? 

Outlines  of  our  conduct. 

1.  Persevere  in  voting  for  Mr.  J. 

2.  Use  every  endeavor  to  defeat  any  law  on  the  subject. 

3.  Try  to  prevail  on  Mr.  A.  to  refuse  his  assent  to  any  such 
law,  and  not  to  call  the  Senate  on  any  account  if  there  shall  be 
no  choice  by  the  House. 

4.  The  Republican  Senators  to  secede  from  any  illegal  meet 
ing  of  the  Senate,  and  to  try  to  persuade  Mr.  F.  also  to  secede, 
in  case  of  no  choice  being  made  by  the  House. 

5.  To  have  a  meeting,  either  self-created  or  of  delegates  ap 
pointed  by  the  Legislatures  of  the  Republican  States,  or  only 
by  the  House  of  Representatives  of  those  States  where  we  have 
but  one  branch  (viz.,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
South  Carolina),  in  order  to  form  an  uniform  plan  of  acting  both 
in  relation  to  a  new  election  and  to  the  usurpation  if  attempted. 

1.  In  relation  to  a  new  election,  if  it  was  to  take  place  in 
December  next,  as  it  would  secure  us  a  fair  election,  we  might 
let  it  take  its  course,  and  we  might  do  the  same  even  in  case  of 
an  earlier  one,  provided  the  Senates  of  the  four  above-mentioned 
States  agreed  also  to  give  us  a  fair  one. 

But  in  the  contrary  case,  it  should   be  necessary  to  protest 


1801.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  21 

against  the  same  and  to  defeat  it  by  an  uniform  plan,  viz.,  the 
House  of  Representatives  in  the  four  States  and  the  Legislatures 
of  the  other  Republican  States  refusing  to  elect.  In  this  case 
we  might  still  leave  it  optional  to  the  next  House  of  Representa 
tives  of  Congress  either  to  act  on  the  present  election  or  to  order 
a  new  one,  according  to  circumstances.  To  collect  information, 
and  agree  either  in  an  acquiescence  in  or  protest  against  the 
intended  new  election,  would  be  the  first  object  of  the  meeting. 

2.  The  next  object  would  be  to  agree  on  an  uniform  mode 
of  resisting  (not  obeying)  the  orders  of  the  usurper,  and  to  dis 
criminate  between  those  and  the  laws  which  should  be  suffered 
to  continue  in  operation. 

N.B. — The  meeting  to  be  constituted  and  to  act  so  as  not  to  be 
considered  as  the  result  of  an  unconstitutional  compact  between 
the  States. 

6.  To  try  to  persuade  Mr.  A.  to  call   Congress  as  early  as 
possible  in  order  to  put  an  end  to  the  interregnum,  or  to  propose 
passing  a  law  for  that  purpose. 

7.  To  hasten  the  elections  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky,  so  as 
to  secure  a  meeting  of  Congress  for  15th  of  May,  if  necessary. 

8.  To  try  to    induce   the   Legislatures  of  New  York   and 
Pennsylvania,  now  in  session,  to  pass  laws  for  appointment  of 
Electors,  which  should  embrace  the  case  of  a  special  election 
earlier  than  December. 


1.  They  persevere  in  voting  for  B.,  or,  2,  give  us  but  one 
ballot,  which  results  in  no  choice  being  made. 

1.  We  do  not  persevere  in  voting  for  J.,  or,  2,  by  perse 
vering,  no  choice  is  made.  The  result  is  that,  1,  either  B.  is 
elected,  or,  2,  that  no  choice  is  made  by  the  present  House.  In 
the  second  alternative  they  may  either  pass  no  law  and  do  no  act 
whatever  relative  to  the  subject,  or  pass  a  law  directing  a  new 
election  on  a  day  prior  to  1st  December,  or  pass  a  law  vesting  the 
Presidential  powers  in  a  certain  designated  officer,  or  pass  both 
laws,  or  pass  only  the  first  law  relative  to  election,  and  assume 
the  Presidential  powers  during  the  interregnum  without  a  law. 

If  they  shall  pass  no  law,  which  hypothesis  rests  on  the  sup 
position  that  Mr.  Adams  will  not  concur  in  any  such  law,  they 


22  WRITINGS    OP     GALLATIN.  1801. 

may  either  depend  on  the  Secretary  of  State  issuing  a  notifica 
tion  for  an  election  on  1st  December  next,  or  only  attach  to  us 
the  stigma  of  partial  usurpation,  by  compelling  us  to  act  in  some 
one  manner  not  contemplated  by  the  Constitution,  in  order  to 
make  a  choice. 

Under  every  hypothesis  except  the  last  their  objects  are,  1, 
to  have  a  new  election ;  2,  to  exercise  the  President's  powers 
during  interregnum. 

I.  A  new  election.  Whether  they  aim  at  it  through  the 
medium  of  a  new  law,  or  through  a  notification  of  the  Secretary 
of  State  under  the  present  law,  two  questions  arise,  viz. : 

1.  Ought  we  to  submit?  2.  If  we  do  not  submit,  how  can 
we  repel  it  ? 

The  dangers  of  submitting  are  : 

1.  The  eventual  loss  of  the  Vice-President  in  a  new  election. 
2.  The  risk  of  losing  the  election  of  President,  by  their  fixing 
a  period  sufficiently  early  to  prevent  the  effect  of  a  renovation 
of  the  Senate  in  New  York,  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and 
South  Carolina,  and  thereby  possibly  neutralizing  the  votes  of 
those  four  States.  3.  The  reanimation  of  the  hopes  and  exer 
tions  of  the  Federal  party  in  some  States,  and  despair  of  success 
on  the  part  of  the  Republicans  also  in  some  States.  4.  The 
stab  given  to  the  Constitution  by  establishing  the  principle  that 
the  House,  in  every  case  where  a  majority  of  nine  States  does 
not  exist,  may  defeat  the  election  and  order  a  new  one.  5.  The 
possibility  of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union  if  the  disfranchised 
States  or  any  of  them  should,  on  that  account,  declare  that  they 
will  not  submit,  it  being  highly  probable  that  any  large  State 
adopting  that  determination^ would  be  supported  by  the  Repub 
lican  States  not  disfranchised. 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  dangers  of  not  submitting,  it  is 
necessary  to  state  the  manner  in  which  a  new  election  may  be 
repelled. 

It  can  be  done  only  by  assuming  the  principle  that  the  elec 
tion  is  complete,  and  that  the  choice  between  the  two  persons 
elected,  if  not  made  by  the  present  House,  may  be  made,  1, 
either  by  the  resignation  (prior  to  choice)  of  one  of  the  two 
persons,  or,  2,  by  a  subsequent  House  of  Representatives. 


1801.  LETTERS,    ETC.  23 

The  resignation  may  be  either  complete,  by  an  abandonment 
of  both  offices,  or  partial,  by  supposing  that,  the  two  candidates 
having  a  right  to  make  the  selection  of  the  two  offices,  if  the 
House  shall  not  do  it,  they  may  themselves  decide  which  of  the 
two  shall  be  President  and  which  Vice-President.  The  choice 
by  a  subsequent  House  may  be  either  made  by  the  House  at 
their  annual  meeting,  or  by  a  special  session. 

A  special  session,  unless  convened  by  the  present  Congress  or 
by  Mr.  Adams  (both  of  which  are  improbable),  can  be  convened 
only  by  the  joint  act  of  Messrs.  J.  and  B.  And  that  mode,  as 
well  as  a  resignation  in  either  of  the  two  ways  above  stated,  is 
predicated  on  an  assumption  of  executive  power  on  our  part, 
which  is  liable  to  two  formidable  objections: 

1.  Danger  of  dissolution  of  Union,  should  the  Eastern  States 
support  the  measures  which  might  be  adopted  by  the  present 
Congress. 

2.  Even  in  case  of  complete  success  on  our  part,  the  immense 
danger  which  must  result  to  our  republican  institutions  generally 
from  the  principle  of  an  assumption  of  power  not  strictly  war 
ranted  by  the  forms  and  substance  of  our  constitutions  being 
adopted,  and  adopted  by  us  in  any  one  case. 

The  remedy  is  so  dangerous  that,  unless  the  plan  of  a  new 
election  should  be  connected  with  usurpation  of  power  during 
the  interregnum,  submission,  with  all  its  inconveniences,  may, 
on  cool  reflection,  be  thought  preferable. 

On  the  other  hand,  to  leave  the  choice  to  a  subsequent  House 
convened  without  any  assumption  of  power  on  our  part,  may  be 
a  sufficient  remedy  in  the  case  where  they  should  attempt  no 
usurpation.  For,  let  them  order  a  new  election  whenever  they 
please,  they  cannot  count  the  votes  and  complete  the  election 
without  Congress  being  convened,  and  then  the  next  House 
may  act  either  on  the  new  or  on  the  present  election. 


24  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  14th  March,  1801. 

SIR, — The  weather  having  detained  me  here  to-day,  I  have 
employed  it  in  making  some  rough  sketches  relative  to  our  finan 
cial  situation,  which  I  have  the  honor  to  enclose. 

Independent  of  the  uncertainty  arising  from  the  fluctuation 
in  the  amount  of  duties  on  imports,  which  vary  so  much  as  to 
have  been  two  millions  of  dollars  more  in  1800  than  the  pre 
ceding  year,  I  had  neither  time  nor  documents  sufficient  to  give 
them  even  the  degree  of  correctness  of  which  estimates  of  that 
kind  are  susceptible. 

No.  1  is  an  estimate  of  the  probable  receipts  and  expenditures 
for  the  year  1801,  by  which  it  would  appear  that  we  may  have 
a  surplus  of  above  two  millions  of  dollars  applicable  to  the  re 
demption  of  the  debt.  I  am  afraid  that  the  revenue  on  imports 
is  rated  too  high,  although  I  have  reduced  it  half  a  million  less 
than  last  year,  and  it  is  not  improbable  that  I  may  have  supposed 
the  savings  for  this  year  greater  than  will  be  found  practicable. 
I  find  also  a  mistake  of  near  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
the  marines,  which  arises  from  a  part  of  the  expenses  of  that 
corps  being  blended  with  the  general  navy  appropriation. 

But  it  is  doubtful  with  me  whether  you  have  not  a  power,  in 
laying  up  the  frigates,  to  discharge  a  number  of  those  marines, 
grounded  on  the  2d  Section  of  the  "Act  for  the  establishing  and 
organizing  a  marine  corps." — Sec.  4th,  vol.  ,  page  200,  lines 
3d  and  4th. 

The  simplest  way  of  applying  the  surplus,  whatever  it  may 
be,  is,  after  making  necessary  remittances  to  Holland  for  the 
purpose  of  discharging  this  and  part  of  next  year's  instalments, 
to  pay  a  part  of  the  debt  due  to  the  bank,  which,  by  reducing 
the  amount  due  to  them,  will  enable  them  to  assist  us  hereafter 
by  temporary  loans  in  equalizing  the  heavy  instalments  of  the 
Dutch  debt. 

No.  2  is  intended  to  show  how  far  it  will  be  necessary  to 
reduce  the  naval  and  military  establishments,  in  order  to  render 
a  repeal  of  all  the  internal  duties  practicable,  at  the  same  time 


1801.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  25 

that  we  should  apply  one  million  yearly  to  the  payment  of  the 
Dutch  debt.  That  sum  at  least  is  necessary  in  order  to  discharge 
the  whole  within  the  period  for  which  it  was  originally  borrowed. 
The  payment  of  the  British  debts  is  perhaps  the  most  untoward 
circumstance,  as  the  result  on  that  subject  is  not  under  our  own 
control.  And  if  we  shall  be  obliged  actually  to  pay  them,  we 
must  necessarily  either  redeem  less  debt  or  continue  the  internal 
duties. 

It  is  proposed  in  that  sketch  to  continue  those  duties  for  the 
year  1802,  because  it  seems  necessary  that  Congress  should  have 
authorized  a  reduction  of  expense,  and  the  expense  should  have 
actually  been  diminished,  before  taxes  can  be  lessened;  and 
because  the  risk  seems  too  great  to  part  altogether  with  that 
resource  before  we  have  had  the  trial  of  another  year. 

No.  3  shows  the  present  rate  of  expense  for  the  army,  and 
the  intended  plan  of  Mr.  Stoddard  for  the  future  expense  of  the 
navy.  Although  I  have  taken  the  liberty  of  suggesting  in  what 
manner  the  reduction  might  take  place,  it  was  merely  in  order 
to  illustrate  my  meaning.  The  most  eligible  mode  of  making 
the  reduction,  and  of  applying  and  distributing  amongst  the 
several  objects  appertaining  to  those  establishments  the  sums 
which  shall  ultimately  be  applicable  to  that  purpose,  must  be 
the  result  of  a  strict  investigation  by  the  gentlemen  who  under 
stand  the  subject.  All  I  wish  to  impress  is  the  necessity  of  a 
great  reduction  there,  if  it  be  intended  to  repeal  the  internal 
duties.  Savings  in  every  department  may  be  practicable,  and 
must  be  attempted  whenever  practicable ;  but  we  can  save  but 
thousands  in  the  other,  and  we  may  save  hundreds  of  thousands 
in  those  two  establishments.  And  that  they  are  practicable  to 
the  extent  proposed  appears  from  this  fact.  In  the  year  1797 
the  military  and  Indian  departments,  including  fortifications,  &c., 
cost  only  one  million  and  sixty-two  thousand  dollars,  and  the 
naval  establishment  three  hundred  and  eighty-two  thousand,  in 
all  one  million  four  hundred  and  forty-four  thousand  dollars. 
The  average  of  both  for  the  years  1796  and  1797  was  about  one 
million  and  a  half.  The  lowest  expense  for  the  civil  list,  miscel 
laneous  and  contingent,  foreign  intercourse,  &c.,  was  1796,  during 
which  it  amounted  to  nine  hundred  and  sixty-eight  thousand 


26  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIX.  1801 

dollars.  I  have  rated  all  those  objects  in  No.  2  at  only  nine 
hundred  thousand;  which  sum,  unless  the  sessions  of  the  Legis 
lature  shall  be  shorter,  the  Judiciary  Act  repealed,  and  the  diplo 
matic  and  Barbary  expenses  curtailed,  will  not  be  sufficient. 

I  find  that  I  have  neglected  another  item  of  expense,  viz.,  the 
repayment  of  the  two  hundred  thousand  dollars  loan  guaranteed 
to  Maryland  for  this  city,  and  which  will  become  due  in  four 
equal  instalments,  if  I  recollect  right,  within  two  years.  And 
it  is  also  to  be  feared  that  the  city  will  draw  from  Congress 
additional  sums. 

Excuse,  I  pray,  the  very  great  hurry  with  which  these  obser 
vations  have  been  written,  and  believe  me  to  be,  with  great  and 
personal  respect, 

Your  most  obedient  and  humble  servant. 

^  P.S. — ^The  subject  of  the  purchase  of  the  navy-yards  seems  to 
require  attention.  Is  that  at  New  York  completed  ?  and  if  the 
appropriation  does  not  cover  the  purchases,  is  there  no  remedy 
against  the  agents  ?  The  appropriation  of  fifty  thousand  dollars 
for  docks  had  not,  on  the  30th  September  last,  been  touched, 
and  expired  on  the  31st  December.  The  appropriation  of  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  was  for  timber,  or  lands  on  which 

,  timber  was  growing,  and  the  President  was,  by  the  same  law, 
1 J  authorized  to  cause  proper  measures  to  be  taken  to  have  the  same 
preserved. 

But  the  appropriation  extended  to  the  purchase  of  timber,  and 
not  to  the  expense  attending  those  measures.  Under  color  of  that 
appropriation  it  appears  that  at  least  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
six  thousand  eight  hundred  dollars  have  been  applied  to  navy- 
yards,  and  the  balance  to  frames  for  two  additional  74's.  Mr. 
Stoddard  in  his  report  misquotes  the  words  of  the  law,  and  calls 

,  it  an  appropriation  for  preparing  proper  places  for  securing  the 
timber.     I  enclose  the  report. 


1801.  LETTERS,    ETC.  27 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  June  12,  1801 

SIR, — The  complaints  for  want  of  stamps  are  certainly  well 
grounded,  yet  difficult  to  remedy,  at  least  by  this  Department. 
The  fault  has  been  in  the  original  postponement  of  stamping, 
which  has  delayed  every  subsequent  operation.  They  stamp 
here  now  at  the  rate  of  near  twenty  thousand  impressions  per 
day,  but  the  distribution  is  slow.  The  stamps  are  sent  from  the 
Commissioner  to  the  several  supervisors,  from  each  supervisor  to 
the  several  inspectors  in  his  district,  from  each  inspector  to  the 
several  collectors  in  his  survey,  from  each  collector  to  the  store 
keepers  who  may  choose  to  purchase,  and  from  them  at  last  it  is 
distributed  to  the  consumers.  The  radical  defect  of  our  internal 
revenue  system,  and  which  I  feel  every  day,  pervades  this  as 
well  as  every  other  branch  of  that  revenue.  Instead  of  making 
the  collectors  account  to  and  correspond  with  the  Treasury  De 
partment,  we  know  nothing  of  them  except  through  the  channel 
of  the  inspector,  nothing  of  the  inspectors  except  through  the 
supervisors,  and  I  know  nothing  of  either  except  through  the 
Commissioner  of  the  Revenue. 

As  soon  as  I  have  got  rid  of  the  arrears  of  current  business 
which  had  accumulated  before  my  appointment,  it  is  my  inten 
tion  to  prepare  and  submit  to  you  a  plan  tending  to  remedy  that 
evil,  so  far  as  it  can  be  remedied  without  the  assistance  of  the 
Legislature. 

In  the  mean  while  I  have  directed  the  Commissioner  to  write 
to  Mr.  Page,  collector  of  internal  revenue  in  Alexandria,  that  if 
he  has  not  a  sufficient  supply  of  stamps,  he  may  obtain  any 
quantity  and  of  any  description  by  applying  at  the  general  office 
here. 

What  shows  how  much  more  proper  it  will  be  to  open  a  cor 
respondence  direct  with  the  collectors  is,  that  Mr.  Carrington, 
the  supervisor,  by  his  last  return,  dated  8th  instant,  states  that 
he  has  in  his  possession  by  far  too  large  a  quantity  of  twenty- 
five  cent  stamps,  and  these  are  precisely  those  which  are  wanted 


28  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1801. 

by  his  collector  in  Alexandria.     I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very 
respectfully,  sir, 

Your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN    TO    JEFFERSON. 

25th  July,  1801. 

The  enclosed  is  the  rough  draft  of  a  circular  to  the  collectors, 
and  is  intended  to  correct  several  abuses  which  have  crept  in 
many  ports.  But  it  is  submitted  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining 
whether  it  is  proper  to  take  this  opportunity  of  communicating 
the  sentiments  expressed  in  the  two  last  paragraphs  marked  *. 
In  the  first  it  is  only  intended  to  let  them  know  that  it  is  ex 
pected  that  they  will,  although  Federal,  divide  the  offices  in  their 
nomination,  and  which  in  the  large  ports  are  really  numerous, 
influential,  and  sometimes  lucrative.  And  it  is  supposed  that 
there  is  no  danger  in  avowing  the  sentiment  that  even  at  present, 
so  far  as  respects  subordinate  officers,  talent  and  integrity  are  to  be 
the  only  qualifications  for  office.  In  the  second  paragraph,  the 
idea  intended  to  be  conveyed  is  that  an  electioneering  collector 
is  commonly  a  bad  officer  as  it  relates  to  his  official  duties  (which 
I  do  sincerely  believe  to  be  true),  and  that  the  principje  of  a 
corrupting  official  influence  is  rejected  by  the  present  Admin 
istration  in  its  own  support,  and  will  not  be  forgiven  where 
exercised  against  itself. 

If  it  is  thought  better  not  to  touch  the  subject,  let  both  para 
graphs  be  erased,  as  the  first  is  introduced  only  as  introductory 
to  the  other. 

If  it  is  thought  proper  to  express  at  present  and  in  this  com 
munication  those  or  similar  sentiments,  it  is  my  wish  that  the 
two  paragraphs  be  modified  and  corrected  both  as  to  sense  and 
style. 

With  respect. 

[Enclosure :] 

«*The  law  having  given  to  the  collectors  the  appointment  of 
a  number  of  inferior  officers  subject  to  my  approbation,  there  is 


1801.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  29 

on  that  subject,  on  which  we  must  act  in  concert,  but  one  senti 
ment  that  I  wish  to  communicate ;  it  is,  that  the  door  of  office  be 
no  longer  shut  against  any  man  merely  on  account  of  his  politi 
cal  opinions,  but  that  whether  he  shall  differ  or  not  from  those 
avowed  either  by  you  or  by  myself,  integrity  and  capacity  suitable 
to  the  station  be  the  only  qualifications  that  shall  direct  our  choice. 
*Permit  me,  since  I  have  touched  this  topic,  to  add  that  whilst 
freedom  of  opinion  and  freedom  of  suffrage  at  public  elections 
are  considered  by  the  President  as  imprescriptible  rights,  which 
possessing  as  citizens,  you  cannot  have  lost  by  becoming  public 
officers,  he  will  regard  any  exercise  of  official  influence  to  restrain 
or  control  the  same  rights  in  others  as  injurious  to  that  part  of 
the  public  administration  which  is  confided  to  your  care,  and 
practically  destructive  of  the  fundamental  principles  of  a  repub 
lican  constitution. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

WASHINGTON,  July  26,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  do  not  see  sufficient  reasons  for  preserving  a 
revenue  cutter  at  Charleston  on  a  larger  scale  than  elsewhere. 
I  see  no  reason  to  expect  pirates  from  St.  Domingo,  no  instance 
of  it  having  yet  occurred ;  if  there  be  any  such  danger,  it  is  not 
peculiar  to  South  Carolina,  but  threatens  all  the  Southern  States 
more  or  less  according  to  their  situation.  If  such  danger  should 
become  imminent,  it  will  behove  us  to  furnish  a  more  adequate 
defence :  the  revenue  cutter,  on  its  present  plan,  answers  neither 
purpose  well,  either  as  a  military  or  revenue  instrument. 

Mr.  Madison  happened  to  be  with  me  when  I  opened  your 
circular  to  the  collectors.  I  approve  so  entirely  of  the  two  para 
graphs  on  the  participation  of  office  and  electioneering  activity, 
that  on  the  latter  subject  I  proposed  very  early  to  issue  a  procla 
mation,  but  was  restrained  by  some  particular  considerations ; 
with  respect  to  the  former,  we  both  thought  it  better  to  be  kept 
back  till  the  New  Haven  remonstrance  and  answer  have  got  into 
possession  of  the  public ;  and  then  that  it  should  go  further  and 
require  an  equilibrium  to  be  first  produced  by  exchanging  one- 


30  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1801. 

half  of  their  subordinates,  after  which  talents  and  worth  alone 
to  be  inquired  into  in  the  case  of  new  vacancies.  Whenever, 
from  observing  appearances  after  the  New  Haven  papers  have  got 
abroad,  you  shall  think  the  public  mind  in  a  proper  state  for 
this  reformation,  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  send  out  a  circular, 
either  with  or  without  previous  communication  to  me.  Health 
and  affectionate  respect. 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

CITY  OF  WASHINGTON,  IQth  August,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  the  following  papers, 
viz. :  1st.  Extract  of  a  letter  from  the  collector  of  Sag  Harbor, 
Long  Island,  on  the  application  of  hospital  money.  The  same 
complaints  have  occasionally  been  made  by  other  collectors  in 
those  small  ports  from  whence  the  money  has  heretofore  been 
drawn  to  the  principal  port.  It  might  be  a  good  rule  to  permit 
the  collectors  of  those  small  ports  to  expend,  when  necessary, 
a  sum  not  exceeding  one-half  of  the  moneys  there  collected, 
reserving  the  other  half  to  assist  the  ports  of  the  same  State, 
when  from  any  extraordinary  cause  the  expense  would  be 
greater  in  any  one  year  than  the  receipts,  to  purchase  stock  or 
to  erect  hospitals.  But,  as  mentioned  in  a  former  letter,  an 
exception  is  necessary  in  relation  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina, 
and  principally  Norfolk,  on  account  of  the  public  hospital  there. 
I  have  as  yet  no  answer  to  the  permission  requested  to  apply 
in  relation  to  those  two  ports  part  of  money  collected  in  the 
adjoining  States. 

2d.  Mr.  Page's  letter  recommending  Mount  Ed.  Chisman 
for  collector  of  Hampton  instead  of  William  Kerby,  to  be 
removed  for  delinquency,  as  per  your  answer  to  my  official 
report  on  that  subject.  Two  months  have  elapsed  since  I  had 
applied  to  Mr.  Page  for  a  recommendation,  and  if  you  approve, 
one  of  the  blank  commissions  may  be  filled  accordingly. 

3d.  George  Jackson's,  of  Georgia,  recommendation  in  favor 
of  T.  De  Mottos  Johnson  for  collector  of  Savannah  instead  of 
Powell,  to  be  removed  for  the  same  cause  as  Kerby.  The  port 


1801.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  31 

of  Savannah  being  of  great  importance,  and  the  accounts  much 
deranged,  render  it  essential  that  a  perfectly  suitable  and  very 
active  man  should  be  appointed.  From  Messrs.  Taliaferro, 
Milledge,  and  Baldwin,  to  whom  I  had  written  on  the  subject, 
no  answer  is  yet  received. 

You  will  be  pleased  to  decide  whether  a  commission  should 
issue  also  in  this  case. 

4th.  Letters  from  Watson,  collector  at  Plymouth,  and  Gen 
eral  Lincoln,  collector  of  Boston,  in  relation  to  the  inquiry  into 
Watson's  conduct  and  its  results.  It  is  presumable  that  the 
liberality  displayed  in  this  instance  had  a  good  effect. 

5th.  A  letter  from  Charles  Pinckney  on  the  propriety  of 
removals  there,  and  one  from  Simmons  showing  his  compli 
ance  with  a  former  circular  in  rendering  his  accounts.  The 
letter  from  Mr.  Pinckney,  who  has  since  sailed,  was  received 
the  next  day  after  I  had  written  to  you  on  the  same  subject 
and  had  enclosed  St.  Th.  Mason's  letter.  It  showed  that  I  was 
not  mistaken  in  what  I  had  understood  to  be  Mr.  Pinckney's 
opinion.  But  it  shows,  also,  that  Mr.  Doyley,  who  was  General 
Mason's  correspondent,  and  said  that  a  removal  after  the  meet 
ing  of  Congress  should  be  too  late,  is  the  candidate  for  the 
office. 

There  is  something  mysterious  in  that,  and  in  your  having 
received  such  different  impressions  on  that  subject  from  what 
I  had.  It  is  necessary  that  the  situation  of  affairs  there  should 
be  known,  and  it  is  desirable  that  it  may  not  be  necessary  to 
remove  the  collector.  He  is  the  only  active  officer  who  has  yet 
been  obtained  there.  His  predecessor,  Holmes,  had  left  every 
thing  in  immense  confusion.  Much  has  been  recovered  through 
Simmons'  exertions,  and  although  the  general  relaxation,  which 
pervaded  the  internal  administration  of  this  and  every  other 
department  during  the  reign  of  energy,  had  produced  the  delay 
of  his  accounts,  you  see  with  what  rapidity  he  has  regained  the 
time  lost. 

6th.  Letters  from  Mr.  Lincoln,  Attorney-General,  on  present 
aspect  in  Massachusetts ;  from  Gov.  Langdon,  wishing  for  more 
removals,  and  enclosing  a  letter  from  Judge  Burke,  South 
Carolina,  wishing  also  for  some,  and  recommending  Thomas 


32  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1801. 

Burke  to  the  office  in  Savannah,  for  which  Governor  Jackson 
recommends  Johnson ;  and  from  Mr.  Osgood,  of  thanks. 

7th.  Returns  of  warrants  issued  last  week  amounting  to 
$90,864.12.  At  the  beginning  of  the  week,  3d  August,  the 
balance  of  cash  in  the  Treasury  was  $2,520,228.42.  On  the 
25th  May,  which  was  the  first  regular  return  I  could  obtain, 
the  balance  was  $1,926,263.05.  The  surplus  money,  for  we  have 
got  more  than  we  want  in  the  Treasury,  is  applied,  as  fast  as  we 
can  procure  good  bills,  to  purchase  remittances  for  Holland, 
where  we  have  to  pay  $1,900,000  next  year,  and  if  we  do  not 
take  care  to  be  beforehand  will  necessarily  raise  the  exchange  by 
purchasing  large  sums  at  once. 

But  this  place  is  unfavorable,  on  account  of  the  distance  from 
Philadelphia  and  New  York.  You  must  altogether  depend  on 
banks  or  private  agents.  I  have  not  been  able  to  purchase  since 
beginning  of  July  more  than  about  three  hundred  thousand 
dollars'  worth,  the  whole  at  thirty-nine  cents.  Exchange  is  now 
at  forty,  and  I  must  stop,  otherwise  government  continuing  to 
purchase  would  raise  it  above  par. 

Jonas  Clark,  collector  of  Kennebunk,  was,  it  seems,  appointed 
inspector  of  external  revenue  by  the  late  President  and  Senate, 
but  through  some  mistake  notice  was  not  given  to  the  Depart 
ment  of  State,  and  no  commission  issued. 

In  all  the  ports  where  there  is  a  surveyor,  he  receives  also  a 
commission  of  inspector,  which  is  necessary  in  the  performance 
of  some  of  his  duties  in  relation  to  imported  teas  and  spirits. 
In  the  ports  where,  as  Kennebunk,  there  is  no  surveyor,  the 
collector  receives  the  same  commission.  Considering  it  as  a 
matter  of  course,  I  have  filled  one  of  the  blank  commissions 
with  his  name  for  that  office,  which  I  hope  will  meet  your  ap 
probation. 

Governor  Drayton  has  communicated  that  Ed.  Barrel  had 
accepted  the  place  of  commissioner  of  direct  tax  for  the  first 
division  of  South  Carolina,  for  which  he  had  received  a  blank 
commission.  Mr.  Darrel  has  also  written,  and  hopes  to  complete 
the  assessment  in  November.  That  of  North  Carolina  is  com 
pleted.  No  answer  yet  on  the  subject  from  Georgia. 

The  answer  to  New  Haven  seems  to  have  had  a  greater  effect 


1801.  LETTERS,    ETC.  33 

than  had  been  calculated  upon.  The  Kepublicans  hope  for  a 
greater  number  of  removals ;  the  Federals  also  expect  it.  I  have 
already  received  several  letters  from  Philadelphia  applying  for 
the  offices  of  customs,  upon  the  ground  that  it  is  generally  un 
derstood  that  the  officers  there  are  to  be  removed. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  Federal  leaders  are  making  a  power 
ful  effort  to  rally  their  party  on  the  same  ground.  Although 
some  mistakes  may  have  been  made  as  to  the  proper  objects  both 
of  removal  and  appointment,  it  does  not  appear  that  less  than 
what  has  been  done  could  have  been  done  without  injustice  to 
the  Republicans. 

But  ought  much  more  to  be  done?  It  is  so  important  for 
the  permanent  establishment  of  those  republican  principles  of 
limitation  of  power  and  public  economy,  for  which  we  have  suc 
cessfully  contended,  that  they  should  rest  on  the  broad  basis  of 
the  people,  and  not  on  a  fluctuating  party  majority,  that  it  would 
be  better  to  displease  many  of  our  political  friends  than  to  give 
an  opportunity  to  the  irreconcilable  enemies  of  a  free  government 
of  inducing  the  mass  of  the  Federal  citizens  to  make  a  common 
cause  with  them.  The  sooner  we  can  stop  the  ferment  the  better  ; 
and  at  all  events  it  is  not  desirable  that  it  should  affect  the  eastern 
and  southern  parts  of  the  Union.  I  fear  less  from  the  impor 
tunity  of  obtaining  offices  than  from  the  arts  of  those  men 
whose  political  existence  depends  on  that  of  party.  Office-  hunters 
cannot  have  much  influence,  but  the  other  class  may  easily  per 
suade  the  warmest  of  our  friends  that  more  ought  to  be  done 
for  them.  Upon  the  whole,  although  a  few  more  changes  may 
be  necessary,  I  hope  there  will  be  but  a  few.  The  number  of 
removals  is  not  great,  but  in  importance  they  are  beyond  their 
number.  The  supervisors  of  all  the  violent  party  States  embrace 
all  the  collectors.  Add  to  that  the  intended  change  in  the 
post-office,  and  you  have  in  fact  every  man  in  office  out  of  the 
seaports. 

Whilst  on  that  subject,  is  it  not  proper  that  the  suppression 
of  the  nineteen  offices  of  inspectors,  worth  twenty  thousand 
dollars,  should  be  known  and  understood?  If  you  approve,  I 
would  send  to  the  press  the  order  itself  which  you  signed  for 
that  purpose. 

VOL.  I. — 4 


34  WKITINGS    OF     GALLATIK  1801. 

Duane  is  here,  and  applies  for  two  appointments  in  favor  of 
Gardner,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Campbell,  an  United 
Irishman,  the  two  clerks  who  gave  him  the  transcript  of  the 
accounts  of  Dayton,  Pickering,  &c.  The  last  was  suspected 
and  turned  out;  the  first  was  not  suspected,  but  resigned.  He 
wants  Gardner  to  be  made  agent  with  the  Choctaw  Indians, 
and  Campbell  to  have  a  commission  in  the  army. 

Whatever  impropriety  there  might  be  in  their  conduct,  I  have 
reason  to  believe  Gardner  to  be  a  man  of  honor.  Campbell  is 
very  impudent,  but  as  enthusiastic  as  his  friends  (the  United 
Irishmen,  I  mean)  commonly  are.1 

1  The  repeated  allusions  to  Campbell  and  Gardner  in  the  text  will  perhaps 
be  better  understood  from  the  following  letter  : 

ANTHONY    CAMPBELL   TO   THOMAS   JEFFERSON. 

No.  297  ARCH  STREET,  PHILADELPHIA,  October  12,  1801. 

SIR, — I  am  sorry  a  combination  of  circumstances  which  I  neither  could 
foresee  nor  expect  compels  me  to  address  you,  but  I  feel  convinced,  when 
you  are  informed  that  necessity  and  self-defence  urge  the  measure,  you  will 
excuse  the  liberty.  Had  my  communications  to  Mr.  Gallatin  upon  an  inter 
esting  subject  been  treated  with  that  politeness  and  attention  which  from 
his  character  I  had  a  right  to  expect,  I  most  certainly  would  not  have 
troubled  you. 

It  is  painful  for  me  to  relate,  after  upwards  of  sixteen  months'  disappoint 
ment  and  difficulties,  that  the  exposition  of  the  defalcations  and  peculations 
which  took  place  under  the  former  Administration  originated  with  me.  As 
a  clerk  in  the  office  of  the  Auditor  of  the  Treasury  of  the  United  States, 
on  a  review  of  the  different  accounts  presented  for  adjustment,  but  particu 
larly  those  of  Messrs.  Pickering  and  Dayton,  I  felt  that  indignation  which 
I  suppose  every  honest  man  does  on  becoming  acquainted  with  a  breach  of 
trust,  either  public  or  private.  Not  bound  by  oath  of  office  or  any  other 
moral  obligation  to  secrecy,  I  did  consider  it  an  imperious  duty  to  make  the 
people  of  the  United  States  acquainted  with  the  fraudulent  conduct  of  their 
agents.  Accordingly,  early  in  the  month  of  June,  1800,  I  called  on  Mr. 
Israel  Israel,  and  informed  him  that  I  was  in  possession  of  information 
which  I  intended  to  publish,  and  I  trusted  the  publication  would  be  the 
happy  means  of  turning  the  current  of  public  opinion  against  a  party  whose 
measures  were  in  open  hostility  against  Republicanism,  and  whose  removal 
from  power  was  my  most  ardent  wish.  I  then  handed  him  six  copies  of 
the  accounts  of  Mr.  Pickering,  in  whose  hands  at  that  time  an  unaccounted 
balance  of  upwards  of  half  a  million  of  dollars  remained,  and  one  copy  of 
the  account  of  Mr.  Dayton,  as  agent  for  paying  the  compensation  due  to 


1801.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  35 

Mr.  Thornton  presses  for  a  decision  in  the  question  of  admis 
sion  of  French  privateers  and  their  prizes. 

I  can  give  no  opinion,  having  never  considered  the  subject; 
but  unless  it  is  much  clearer  than  I  expect,  it  seems  that  delay 
is  desirable,  at  least  until  after  the  ratification  of  the  French 
convention.  I  know  that  you  must  at  last  meet  the  question; 
but  Thornton  would  not  speak  if  he  was  not  instructed,  and  the 
importance  of  a  decision  is  too  great  to  be  risked  on  any  but  the 
strongest  grounds. 

Hoping  to  hear  soon  from  you,  I  remain  with  great  respect. 

members  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  upon  which  at  that  time  a  large 
unaccounted  balance  remained  in  his  hands  from  diiferent  sessions  of  Con 
gress.  I  requested  the  editor  of  the  "Aurora"  might  be  sent  for;  conse 
quently,  that  afternoon  an  interview  took  place,  when  the  aforesaid  seven 
copies  of  the  Auditor's  reports  on  the  accounts  of  Messrs.  Pickering  and 
Dayton  were  put  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Duane  for  the  purpose  of  publication. 
Soon  after  this  part  of  the  transaction,  in  consequence  of  the  removal  of 
government  to  Washington,  all  the  clerks,  another  and  myself  excepted, 
were  sent  to  that  place.  At  that  time  of  almost  general  suspension  of  public 
business  I  had  more  leisure  than  usual,  which  I  employed  taking  cursory 
reviews  of  the  accounts  of  individuals  in  the  public  service,  and  found  that 
delinquents  were  numerous,  and  consisted  of  influential  characters  in  the 
departments  of  finance. 

Some  doubts  remaining  on  the  mind  of  Mr.  Israel  as  to  the  authenticity 
of  the  reports  of  the  accounts  of  Pickering  and  Dayton,  and  being  appre 
hensive  that  Mr.  Duane  might  be  led  into  error  by  publishing  them,  in 
order  to  do  away  every  doubt  and  to  be  able  by  respectable  testimony  to  re 
fute  all  attempts  that  might  be  made  to  invalidate  the  intended  publications, 
I  did  voluntarily  and  without  the  previous  knowledge  of  any  person  what 
ever  convey  the  book  containing  these  accounts  to  Mr.  Israel's  house,  where, 
in  the  presence  of  John  Beckley,  Israel  Israel,  Samuel  Israel,  auctioneer, 
"William  Duane,  and  myself,  the  former  copies  were  compared,  and  others 
equally  as  important  were  taken  oif,  part  of  which  were  afterwards  published 
in  the  "Aurora."  .  .  . 

During  the  agitation  and  discussions  produced  by  these  publications  in  the 
"  Aurora,"  "  American  Citizen,"  &c.,  and  the  fortunate  change  that  conse 
quently  took  place  in  the  public  mind,  some  claimed  the  merit,  while  I  re 
mained  silent  and  was  sacrificed.  But,  sir,  I  solemnly  assure  you  that  no 
other  person  had  any  share  in  exposing  those  delinquencies  but  myself,  ex 
cept  some  assistance  afforded  me  by  William  P.  Gardner,  then  a  clerk  in 
the  Auditor 's  office.  For  the  truth  of  this  assertion  I  refer  to  Mr.  Gallatin, 
having  sent  him  certificates  to  substantiate  that  fact,  and  to  prove  the  recti 
tude  of  my  moral  character,  some  time  ago.  .  .  . 


36  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1801. 


JEFFERSON    TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  14,  1801. 

DEAR  SIK, — Your  favors  of  the  8th  and  10th  came  to  hand 
yesterday.  With  respect  to  Hopkins's  case,  which  is  the  subject 
of  the  former,  my  opinion  is  generally  that  when  a  case  is  exactly 
that  which  the  law  meant  to  punish,  it  is  one  for  which  the  power 
of  pardon  was  not  intended ;  but  when  a  case  is  not  that  which 
the  law  meant  to  make  criminal,  and  yet  happens  to  be  within 
its  letter,  there  is  proper  ground  to  exercise  the  power  of  pardon. 
Ignorance  of  the  law  in  the  case  of  Hopkins,  together  with  his 
having  paid  everything  the  Treasury  had  a  right  to,  and  gained 
nothing  by  the  non-entry  of  his  still,  appear  to  bring  him  within 
the  scope  of  the  pardoning  power.  If  you  think  so,  and  will 
have  a  pardon  forwarded  to  me,  I  will  sign  it. 

I  enclose  you  the  resignation  of  Anthony  W.  White,  as  sur 
veyor  of  the  port  of  New  Brunswick.  If  this  be  the  person  I 
suppose,  it  will  be  no  loss  to  the  public. 

The  case  of  the  expenditure  of  the  hospital  money,  partly 
from  the  defects  of  the  law,  partly  the  difficulty  of  the  subject, 
is  very  perplexing.  How  would  it  answer  to  get  along  as 
we  have  done  till  the  meeting  of  the  Legislature,  and  then  to 
endeavor  to  establish  a  systematic  plan  legislatively  ?  I  know 
nothing  of  Chisman,  proposed  as  collector  of  Hampton,  and  our 
friend  Mr.  Page,  from  the  benevolent  and  unsuspicious  cast  of 
his  mind,  is  the  most  unsafe  recommender  we  can  possibly  follow. 
He  never  sees  but  the  good  qualities  of  a  man,  and  those  through 
the  largest  magnifiers.  As  the  case  will,  I  suppose,  admit  of  some 
delay,  I  will  write  to  persons  of  the  neighborhood  for  further 
information,  and  will  communicate  the  result;  but  if  it  admits 
no  delay,  then  we  may  appoint  Chisman,  but  be  assured  it  will 
be  at  considerable  risk.  For  the  collectorship  of  Savannah  I 
should  prefer  the  recommendation  of  Jackson,  who  is  of  the 
State,  to  that  of  Burke,  who  is  out  of  it.  Will  it  not  await  the 
answers  you  expect  from  Baldwin,  Milledge,  and  Taliaferro?  if 
not,  let  us  name  Johnson.  I  shall  have  great  reluctance  indeed 
at  removing  Simmons,  and  especially  as  he  promises  the  same 


1801.  LETT EKS,    ETC.  37 

support  to  this  which  he  gave  to  the  preceding  Administration : 
this  removes  the  only  reason  urged  by  Mr.  Pinckney  for  de 
priving  him  of  his  place,  to  wit,  his  electioneering  influence  and 
energy.  At  any  rate,  we  must  take  time  and  have  more  infor 
mation  on  the  subject.  The  removals  desired  by  Mr.  Langdon 
are  on  better  ground,  but  they  also  may  wait  a  while.  Is  Jonas 
Clark,  proposed  as  collector  of  Kennebunk,  a  Republican?  His 
having  been  nominated  by  our  predecessor  excites  a  presumption 
against  it;  and  if  he  is  not,  we  must  be  inflexible  against  appoint 
ing  Federalists  till  there  be  a  due  portion  of  Republicans  intro 
duced  into  office.  It  gives  just  offence  to  those  who  have  been 
constantly  excluded  heretofore  to  be  still  excluded  by  those  who 
have  been  brought  in  to  correct  the  system.  £The  answer  to 
New  Haven  does  not  work  harder  than  I  expected.  It  gives 
mortal  offence  to  the  Monarchical  Federalists,  who  were  mortally 
offended  before.  I  do  not  believe  it  is  thought  unreasonable  by 
the  Republican  Federalists.  In  one  point  the  effect  is  not  exactly 
what  I  expected.  It  has  given  more  expectation  to  the  sweeping 
Republicans  than  I  think  its  terms  justify;  to  the  moderate  and 
genuine  Republicans  it  seems  to  have  given  perfect  satisfaction.  I 
am  satisfied  it  was  indispensably  necessary  in  order  to  rally  round 
one  point  all  the  shades  of  Republicanism  and  Federalism,  exclu 
sive  of  the  Monarchical,  and  I  am  in  hopes  it  will  do  it.  At 
any  event,  while  we  push  the  patience  of  our  friends  to  the 
utmost  it  will  bear,  in  order  that  we  may  gather  into  the  same 
fold  all  the  Republican  Federalists  possible,  we  must  not,  even 
for  this  object,  absolutely  revolt  our  tried  friends._J  It  would  be 
a  poor  mano3iivre  to  exchange  them  for  new  converts.  I  have 
no  doubt  of  the  expediency  of  publishing  the  suppression  of  the 
inspectorships,  with  an  explanation  of  the  grounds  of  it.  With 
respect  to  Gardner  as  agent  with  the  Choctaws,  is  one  wanting, 
and  has  he  the  fitness  for  the  place  ?  If  not,  I  should  wish  to 
make  some  other  provision  for  him.  With  respect  to  Campbell, 
a  restoration  to  the  same  office  would  seem  the  best  and  safest 
redress.  I  have  no  doubt  we  have  a  right  to  put  the  French 
and  English  on  the  same  footing,  by  either  receiving  or  exclud 
ing  the  prizes  of  both  nations.  The  latter  is  our  best  policy ; 
but  I  would  never  permit  a  foreign  minister,  on  the  foundation 


38  WHITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1801. 

of  a  mere  newspaper  paragraph,  before  the  character  of  a  fact  be 
known,  or  even  that  it  is  a  fact,  to  draw  the  government  into 
the  discussion  and  decision  of  the  gravest  and  most  difficult 
questions.  I  am  clear,  therefore,  for  giving  no  answer  till  the 
transaction  and  its  whole  character  be  authentically  defined. 
From  Mr.  Thornton's  court  we  can  never  get  a  decision  after 
a  fact  has  happened.  Why  should  we  be  so  complaisant  as  to 
decide  for  them  beforehand  ?  In  a  letter  of  this  day  to  General 
Dearborn  I  have  proposed  our  general  rendezvous  at  Washing 
ton,  on  the  last  day  of  September.  Present  my  best  respects  to 
Mrs.  Gallatin,  and  be  assured  yourself  of  my  sincere  and  friendly 
attachment  and  respect. 

P.S. — All  your  papers  are  returned,  except   the   report  of 
warrants  issued. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

CITY  OF  WASHINGTON,  17th  August,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  favor  of  the  7th  instant  was  received  on 
the  llth,  the  day  after  the  mail  had  closed.  It  arrives  here  on 
Tuesday,  departs  on  Monday.  You  may  answer  by  same  mail, 
but  cannot  receive  answer  in  less  than  fortnight.  You  will  re 
ceive  enclosed,  as  usual,  the  list  of  warrants,  and  I  also  enclose 
a  letter  from  Mr.  Doyley,  and  one  from  W.  Jones,  member  of 
Congress  for  Philadelphia. 

The  first  letter  is  not  written  in  as  explicit  a  language  as  might 
have  been  wished ;  but  may, not  this  be  inferred  from  his  and 
Mr.  Pinckney's  letters  ?  that  not  only  there  is  some  danger  of 
a  Federal  Senator  being  elected,  which  indeed  I  have  uniformly 
apprehended,  but  that  Mr.  Doyley  and  his  friends  fear,  in  case 
of  a  Republican  succeeding,  that  he  may  have  personal  views  dif 
ferent  from  theirs  and  favor  appointments  of  different  persons. 
And  is  not  this  the  reason  why  Mr.  Doyley  and  friends  wish 
the  appointment  to  take  place  before  the  meeting  of  Congress  ? 
I  have  invited  Mr.  Doyley  to  a  free  communication  of  his 
sentiments. 


1801.  LETTEES,    ETC.  39 

You  will  find  by  the  other  letter  that  the  Republicans  expect 
a  change  in  Philadelphia :  this  expectation  is  owing  partly  to  the 
removal  of  the  collector  of  New  York,  and  partly  to  the  answer 
to  New  Haven,  which,  as  I  mentioned  before,  has  had  a  greater, 
if  not  a  better,  eifect  than  was  expected.  Of  the  four  persons 
he  recommends,  the  name  of  Bache  would  be  most  popular ;  but 
he  wants  industry.  Clay  is  certainly  the  most  capable,  unless 
Conoly,  who  is  highly  respected  by  all  who  know  him,  should 
be  supposed  to  understand  that  particular  business  better.  Upon 
the  whole,  in  that  also  it  is  much  better  to  wait  the  meeting  of 
Congress.  Dallas,  who  was  here,  agrees  with  me.  Yet  it  must 
be  allowed  that  the  warm  Republicans  will  be  displeased.  It  is 
the  same  in  New  York  in  regard  to  Rogers,  who,  though  the 
most  capable,  was  the  most  obnoxious  to  the  zealous  Republicans. 
Duane  has  been  here,  and  I  have  taken  an  opportunity  of  show 
ing  the  impropriety  of  numerous  removals.  He  may  think  the 
reasons  good,  but  his  feelings  will  be  at  war  with  any  argument 
on  the  subject.  Clay  has  also  been  here  :  the  number  of  young 
men  of  true  merit  and  some  scientific  knowledge  is  so  small  in 
our  middle  States,  that  I  cannot  help  being  very  desirous  that 
something  for  which  he  may  be  fit  might  be  done  for  him. 

His  father  has,  excluding  him,  placed  his  younger  brother  in 
an  eligible  commercial  situation,  and  the  Bank  of  North  America 
will  never  promote  him  beyond  his  one  thousand  dollars  salary. 
What  do  you  think  of  the  Lisbon  or  one  of  the  Barbary  consul 
ships  ?  I  do  not  know  that  either  would  suit  him,  but  wish  only 
to  be  acquainted  with  your  intentions  generally. 

I  had  understood  that  a  commission  of  marshal  New  Jersey 
had  been  directed  to  issue  in  favor  of  General  John  Heard,  and 
I  believe  he  had  understood  as  much.  An  application  has,  in 
fact,  been  made  for  the  commission,  on  a  supposition  that  it  had 
been  lost.  I  have  told  Wagner  to  send  you  a  blank  one,  that, 
if  it  was  intended,  it  may  be  filled.  The  present  marshal  is 
Thomas  Lowry;  he  has  been  in  since  26th  September,  1789, 
his  commission  expires  28th  January,  1802. 

Mr.  Miller  has  put  in  my  hands  the  enclosed  from  Mr.  Fish. 
It  may  be  difficult  to  answer,  yet  he  has  been  uniformly  consid 
ered  as  the  mere  tool  of  Hamilton,  and  was,  with  Giles  and  Wat- 


40  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 

son,  the  most  active  electioneering  officer  of  government  in  New 
York.  I  must  say  something  to  Miller  about  it.  E.  Living 
ston  said  that  the  removal  of  Fish  was  not  expected  so  long  as 
Rogers  was  permitted  to  continue.  By  the  by,  it  seems  to  me 
that  Fish  intends  that  letter  for  publication. 

I  have  heard  that  Fen  wick  had  received  a  letter  of  later  date 
from  Bordeaux,  stating  the  ratification  of  our  convention  with 
France,  and  Dawson  being  on  his  way  back,  but  have  not  been 
able  to  ascertain  whether  true  or  not. 

I  am,  with  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  dear  sir,  your  most 
obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  21,  1801. 

DEAR  Sin, — Your  favors  of  the  15th  and  17th  are  received; 
you  will  find  an  approbation  signed  at  the  foot  of  Mr.  Miller's 
letter ;  all  the  papers  enclosed  to  me  are  re-enclosed,  except  the 
list  of  warrants.  I  do  not  with  very  great  certainty  recollect 
the  particulars  as  to  General  Heard,  but  I  think  we  at  first 
intended  him  the  place  afterwards  given  to  Linn  ;  that  it  was 
after  that  suggested  he  would  accept  the  marshal's  office,  and 
some  of  us  at  least  thought  it  fortunate,  but  I  do  not  remember 
that  it  was  decided  finally.  As  far  as  I  see  of  the  matter,  I 
should  approve  of  his  appointment,  but  I  rather  think  it  was 
concluded  there  should  be  no  more  removals  till  we  should 
meet  again.  This  is  still  my  opinion ;  for  however  this  gradual 
proceeding  may  in  some  respects  be  disagreeable,  yet  I  have 
no  doubt  it  offers  greater  advantage  than  evil.  On  this  ground, 
as  well  as  that  specially  noted  in  a  former  letter,  nothing  should 
be  immediately  done  in  South  Carolina.  The  Dun  woody  Sec 
retary  stands  on  a  mass  of  family  interests  not  to  be  thought 
little  of.  We  should  make  a  great  many  enemies  for  one  friend. 
I  sincerely  wish  Judge  Burke  could  be  fully  impressed  with 
the  fatal  consequences  of  a  division  on  the  election  of  a  Senator 
for  South  Carolina.  I  like  much  the  idea  of  giving  Clay  the 
consulship  of  Lisbon.  I  deem  it  the  most  important  consulship 


1801.  LETTERS,    ETC.  41 

in  our  gift.  I  will  write  to  Mr.  Madison  on  the  subject  and 
ask  his  opinion.  The  letter  of  Fish  is  certainly  not  to  be 
answered.  The  answer  to  New  Haven  was  called  for  by  great 
motives ;  but  it  must  not  lead  us  into  the  lists  with  every  indi 
vidual.  We  have  nothing  to  fear  from  Fish's  publication.  I 
presume  somebody  will  answer  him  for  us,  by  reminding  him 
of  his  carrying  his  official  influence  into  elections,  &c.  Accept 
assurances  of  my  affectionate  esteem  and  high  consideration. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  28,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  favors  of  the  18th  and  24th  came  by 
yesterday's  post.  I  am  sorry  Mr.  Clay  declines  the  consulship ; 
it  would  have  been  very  pleasing  to  us  to  replace  our  minister 
at  Lisbon  by  such  a  consul  as  Clay.  Perhaps  reconsideration 
and  inquiry  into  the  advantages  of  the  situation  may  recon 
cile  it  to  him.  I  have  not  here  my  bundle  of  claims  for  office, 
and  therefore  cannot  propose  a  successor  for  Colonel  White 
in  Jersey.  Your  acquaintance  in  the  State  will  better  enable 
you  to  do  it.  I  have  written  to  three  gentlemen  of  great  dis 
cretion,  one  at  Norfolk,  the  others  near  Hampton,  on  the  sub 
ject  of  Chisman.  I  have  an  answer  from  the  one  at  Norfolk, 
who  has  never  heard  of  him.  I  shall  hear  from  the  others 
before  the  next  post.  I  have  known  Mr.  Page  from  the  time 
we  were  boys  and  classmates  together,  and  love  him  as  a  brother, 
but  I  have  always  known  him  the  worst  judge  of  man  existing. 
He  has  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  the  ease  with  which  he  gives  his 
confidence  to  those  who  deserve  it  not.  Still,  if  we  hear  nothing 
against  Chisman,  we  may  venture  to  do  what  will  be  agreeable 
to  Mr.  Page.  I  am  very  anxious  to  do  something  useful  for 
him ;  and  so  universally  is  he  esteemed  in  this  country,  that  no 
man's  promotion  would  be  more  generally  approved.  He  has 
not  an  enemy  in  the  world.  But  we  have  but  one  officer  here 
whom  the  general  voice,  Whig  and  Tory,  marks  for  removal ; 
and  I  am  not  well  enough  acquainted  with  its  duties  to  be  cer- 


42  WHITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 

tain  that  they  are  adapted  to  Mr.  Page's  talent.  The  explana 
tion  you  give  of  the  nature  of  the  office  proposed  for  Jonas 
Clarke  silences  my  doubts,  and  I  agree  to  the  appointment.  I 
think  we  should  do  justice  to  Campbell  and  Gardner,  and  can 
not  suppose  the  Auditor  will  think  hard  of  replacing  them  in 
their  former  berths.  He  has  seen  us  restore  officers  where  we 
thought  their  removal  unjust,  and  cannot  therefore  view  it  in 
this  case  as  meant  to  censure  himself  specially.  Specific  resti 
tution  is  the  particular  measure  of  justice  which  the  case  calls 
for. 

The  doctrine  as  to  the  admission  of  prizes,  maintained  by  the 
government  from  the  commencement  of  the  war  between  Eng 
land,  France,  &c.,  to  this  day,  has  been  this :  the  treaties  give  a 
right  to  armed  vessels,  with  their  prizes,  to  go  where  they  please 
(consequently  into  our  ports),  and  that  these  prizes  shall  not  be 
detained,  seized,  nor  adjudicated ;  but  that  the  armed  vessel  may 
depart  as  speedily  as  may  be,  with  her  prize,  to  the  place  of  her 
commission ;  and  we  are  not  to  suffer  their  enemies  to  sell  in  our 
ports  the  prizes  taken  by  their  privateers.  Before  the  British 
treaty,  no  stipulation  stood  in  the  way  of  permitting  France  to  sell 
her  prizes  here ;  and  we  did  permit  it,  but  expressly  as  a  favor, 
not  as  a  right.  See  letter  of  August  16,  1793,  to  Gouverneur 
Morris,  §  4,  and  other  letters  in  that  correspondence,  which  I 
cannot  now  turn  to.  These  stipulations  admit  the  prizes  to  put 
into  our  ports  in  cases  of  necessity,  or  perhaps  of  convenience, 
but  no  right  to  remain  if  disagreeable  to  us ;  and  absolutely  not 
to  be  sold.  We  have  accordingly  lately  ordered  away  a  British 
vessel  brought  in  by  a  Spanish  armed  ship,  and  I  have  given  it 
as  my  opinion  to  Mr.  Madison  that  the  British  snow  Windsor, 
lately  brought  in  by  the  prisoners  she  was  carrying,  ought  to  be 
sent  away.  My  opinion  is,  that  whatever  we  are  free  to  do  we 
ought  to  do  to  throw  difficulties  in  the  way  of  the  depredations 
committed  on  commerce,  and  chiefly  our  own  commerce.  In  the 
case  of  the  Spanish  privateer  at  Wilmington,  North  Carolina, 
who  wants  to  sell  as  much  of  his  prize  as  will  refit  the  privateer, 
it  is  absolutely  forbidden.  The  directions  you  have  already  given 
as  to  the  prize  herself  coincide  perfectly  with  what  I  think  right. 
No  pardon  has  come  to  me  from  Mr.  Wagner  for  Hopkins.  I 


1801.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  43 

consent  to  the  transfer  you  propose  of  the  superintendence  of 
the  light-houses  of  Portsmouth  and  New  York  to  the  present 
collectors  of  those  ports,  and  to  the  appointment  of  the  collector 
for  Savannah  recommended  by  General  Jackson,  if  you  learn 
nothing  to  the  contrary  from  the  delegates.  Accept  assurances 
of  my  affectionate  esteem  and  high  respect. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  September  5,  1801. 

DEAE  SIK, — Your  favor  of  August  29th  came  to  hand  on  the 
3d,  but  no  commission  for  Chisman  is  come  to  hand  from  Mr. 
Wagner;  it  shall  be  signed  as  soon  as  received,  as  my  information 
relative  to  him  is  favorable.  I  return  you  all  the  papers  received 
in  your  last,  except  the  list  of  warrants.  With  respect  to  Sproat, 
you  will  do  what  you  find  best.  The  circular  letter  has  my 
entire  approbation.  I  have  written  by  this  post  both  to  Mr. 
Meredith  and  Colonel  Habersham  fixing  the  translation  of  the 
latter  to  the  last  day  of  October. 

Mr.  Madison  happened  to  be  with  me  on  the  arrival  of  our 
last  post,  and  had  directed  his  mail  to  be  brought  here,  but  it  has 
failed,  consequently  he  has  not  yet  received  his  letters  by  the 
Maryland,  and  we  are  as  yet  uninformed  of  the  points  on  which 
the  ratification  is  suspended,  but  we  both  conclude  it  improper 
to  delay  either  the  Boston  or  Mr.  Livingston.  He  gives  notice 
by  this  post  that  the  departure  of  both  must  be  prepared,  and 
hopes  to  receive  his  letters  in  time  to  prepare  and  forward  Mr. 
Livingston's  ultimate  instructions  by  the  next.  I  wish  Murray 
may  not  trust  himself  with  any  important  modifications.  If  the 
treaty  should  never  be  ratified,  it  will  only  begin  the  work  of 
placing  us  clear  of  treaty  with  all  nations. 

I  learn  with  sincere  regret  the  continued  illness  of  your  child. 
My  sympathies  with  you  in  that  distress  flow  from  great  trials 
in  the  same  school  at  a  former  period  of  my  life.  General  Dear 
born's  situation  is  peculiarly  afflicting.  My  health  has  been 
uninterrupted,  as  well  as  that  of  my  family ;  so  also  has  been 


44  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 

Mr.  Madison's.  No  letter  written  by  you  after  your  receipt  of 
this  can  be  answered  sooner  than  by  myself  in  person,  as  I  shall 
be  with  you  on  the  30th.  Accept  assurance  of  my  sincere  esteem 
and  high  respect. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  7th  September,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  duly  received  your  favor  of  the  28th  ultimo. 
In  the  case  of  the  intended  successor  of  General  White  as  sur 
veyor  at  Brunswick,  I  applied  to  the  printer,  S.  H.  Smith,  who 
married  there,  and  who,  after  ten  days'  deliberation,  told  me 
that  he  had  in  vain  tried  to  find  a  Republican  there  fitted  for 
the  office,  but  mentioned  the  name  of  John  Nelson  as  a  very 
respectable  and  moderate  Federal  character  there.  If  that  will 
not  do,  might  it  not  be  well  to  apply  for  information  to  General 
Heard,  who  lives  within  ten  miles  of  Brunswick? 

I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Milledge,  of  Georgia,  recommend 
ing,  without  any  remarks,  four  persons  as  proper  to  succeed  Mr. 
Powell,  the  collector  of  Savannah.  One  of  the  four,  though 
not  the  first  in  order,  is  the  same  person  whom  Governor  Jackson 
recommended.  The  office  is  so  important  that  I  have  thought  it 
best  to  delay  filling  the  commission  for  one  week  longer,  in  order, 
if  possible,  to  receive  answers  from  Messrs.  Taliaferro  and  Bald 
win  ;  and  I  have  also  written  on  the  subject  to  Colonel  Few,  at 
New  York.  As  you  have  acquaintances  in  the  vicinity  of  Nor 
folk,  it  is  very  desirable  that  information  should  be  obtained 
from  them  on  the  subject  of  a  proper  successor  for  Nat.  Wilkins, 
collector  of  Cherry  Stone  (Eastern  Shore,  Virginia),  who  is  the 
worst  delinquent  on  the  list,  his  last  account  rendered  being  to 
31st  December,  1796.  I  have  written  to  Mr.  Page  and  young 
Mr.  Newton,  but  neither  can  recommend  any  person.  The  succes 
sor  should  have  integrity,  keenness,  and  firmness.  There  is  much 
smuggling  in  that  district,  and,  the  people  being  in  the  habit  of 
favoring  it,  it  will  require  some  exertions  to  put  an  end  to  it. 

The  two  enclosed  from  Mr.  Brent,  and  from  Mr.  Steele,  the 
last  covering  one  from  Mr.  Simmons,  require  no  comment. 


1801.  LETTERS,    ETC.  45 

You  will  see  by  that  of  Mr.  Jarvis  that  he  declines  accepting 
the  collectorship  of  Penobscot.  This  leaves  us  in  a  very  awk 
ward  situation,  as  in  the  mean  while,  Lee  being  superseded,  we 
have  no  collector  there.  Mr.  Jarvis  recommends  his  brother. 
On  the  other  hand,  I  have  a  recommendation  for  P.  D.  Serjeant, 
which  I  enclose.  It  was  given  me  at  the  time  by  General  Dear 
born,  who  spoke  favorably  of  the  applicant,  but  on  the  whole 
preferred  Mr.  Jarvis — him  who  declines.  Of  this  last  gentle 
man's  brother  I  did  not  hear  General  Dearborn  speak,  though  he 
must  have  known  that  he  resided  on  the  spot,  whilst  the  brother 
whom  he  recommended  was  established  at  Boston. 

In  respect  to  the  appointment  of  an  inspector  of  internal 
revenue  for  the  new  district  of  North- West  of  Ohio,  I  enclose 
Mr.  Worthington's  letter,  but  have  not  the  time  to  wait  for  an 
answer  from  you,  as  the  person  must  receive  his  appointment  by 
the  1st  of  October.  Upon  the  whole,  it  has  appeared  to  me 
most  eligible  to  fill  the  blank  commission  you  left  for  that  object 
with  the  name  of  Th.  Worthington,  leaving  him  a  reasonable 
time  to  resign  either  that  or  the  place  of  register  of  the  land 
office. 

I  had  much  rather  he  would  keep  the  last,  which  is  of  more 
importance  to  the  revenue  and  far  more  to  the  people  than  the 
other,  because  I  consider  him  as  being,  upon  the  whole,  the  most 
respectable  character  in  the  North- West  Territory ;  but  a  de 
cision  of  the  Attorney-General's  in  relation  to  his  fees  has,  I 
apprehend,  somewhat  disgusted  him. 

It  had  been  my  intention  to  fill  the  commission  with  the  name 
of  Samuel  Finley,  the  receiver  of  Chillicothe,  as  the  two  offices 
seemed  more  compatible,  and  the  commission  on  that  of  receiver 
(one  per  cent,  on  moneys  received)  is  not  equal  to  the  risk 
and  trouble ;  but  he  has  now  upwards  of  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  in  hand,  and  is  not  as  regular  in  making  his  returns  as 
he  ought  to  be. 

If  upon  investigation  it  will  appear  that  it  was  owing  only 
to  the  pressure  of  business,  and  Mr.  Worthington  will  keep  the 
register's  place,  I  would  still  incline  for  that  arrangement ;  but 
the  temporary  appointment  of  Mr.  W.  will  give  us  time  to  ex 
amine.  You  will  be  able  to  appreciate  the  weight  of  his  recom- 


46  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 

mendations  in  favor  of  two  persons  as  collectors  at  Cayuga 
and  Cincinnati.  I  do  not  expect  any  further  information  in 
relation  to  those  two  posts,  and  will,  of  course,  wait  for  your 
instructions. 

The  list  of  warrants  is,  as  usual,  enclosed.  Payments  go  on 
very  well.  After  making  the  payments  of  interest  due  for  this 
quarter  at  the  end  of  this  month,  we  will  have  two  millions  and 
a  half,  at  least,  in  the  Treasury.  We  had  but  two  at  the  end  of 
last  quarter. 

My  only  embarrassment  proceeds  from  the  difficulty  of  pur 
chasing  good  bills  on  Amsterdam,  in  which  we  ought  to  have 
had  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  more  invested  by  the  1st 
October  next.  We  have  paid  heretofore  but  thirty-nine,  but 
must  now  give  forty  cents  per  guilder. 

I  was  absent  when  the  despatches  from  France  arrived,  and 
cannot  form  any  precise  opinion  of  the  result.  I  have  uniformly 
thought  that  the  modification  proposed  by  the  Senate  having  put 
it  in  the  power  of  France  to  act  as  they  pleased,  that  consistency 
was  not,  in  the  situation  of  Bonaparte,  to  be  expected,  which  a 
government  solely  actuated  by  the  permanent  and  solid  interest 
of  its  nation  would  be  likely  to  preserve. 

If,  for  any  reasons  connected  with  foreign  policy  or  their  own 
domestic  concerns,  they  do  not  think  it  their  interest  to  ratify  at 
the  moment  when  the  negotiation  takes  place,  I  think  that  they 
will  take  hold  of  the  alteration  proposed.  Yet  I  had  thought 
that  peace  with  America  was  so  popular  in  France  that  they 
would  not  run  the  risk  of  a  rejection,  and  that  that  cause  would 
preponderate  over  any  other.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  clear  that 
the  signing  of  the  convention  was  at  least  hastened  by  the  wish 
to  operate  favorably  on  the  northern  powers,  and  that  this  motive 
has  now  ceased.  If  they  intend  to  make  peace  with  Great 
Britain,  may  they  not  think  that  they  will  be  likely  to  make  a 
more  advantageous  treaty  with  us  after  that  event,  or  rather  after 
the  expiration  of  the  British  treaty,  than  now?  If  they  are 
really  sincere  in  their  objections  to  the  omission,  and  it  seems 
also  to  the  restoration  of  the  second  article,  and  insist  on  a 
positive  renunciation  of  indemnities  and  treaties,  not  with  a 
view  of  defeating  the  treaty,  but  because  they  actually  want 


1801.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  47 

such  renunciation,  may  it  be  that  they  intend  to  occupy  not 
only  Louisiana,  but  also  the  Floridas,  and  wish  therefore  an 
explicit  annullation  of  the  Treaty  of  1777  ? 

I  hope  these  delays  will  not  be  attended  with  any  real  change 
in  the  relative  situation  of  the  two  countries,  but  I  fear  the 
effect  on  the  public  mind  here. 

Commodore  Dale  has  arrived  almost  in  the  nick  of  time  in 
the  Mediterranean ;  yet  it  is  to  be  wished  that  he  had  met  the 
Tripolitan  at  sea  instead  of  Gibraltar. 

With  great  respect  and  sincere  attachment,  your  very  obedient 
servant. 


GALLATIN    TO    JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  September  12,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR,- — This  will  be  handed  by  M.  L.  Davis,  of  New 
York,  the  candidate  for  the  naval  office.  I  used  my  endeavors 
to  prevent  his  proceeding  to  Monticello,  but  he  had  left  New 
York  with  that  intention,  and  is  not  easily  diverted  from  his 
purpose.  The  reason  he  gives  for  his  anxiety  is  that,  imme 
diately  after  the  adjournment  of  Congress,  E.  Livingston  and 
others  mentioned  to  him  that  a  positive  arrangement  was  made 
by  the  Administration  by  which  he  was  to  be  appointed  to  that 
office ;  that  he  was  so  perfectly  confident,  till  some  time  in  June, 
that  such  was  the  fact,  as  to  refuse  advantageous  proposals  of 
a  permanent  establishment,  and  the  general  belief  on  that 
subject  has  placed  him  in  a  very  awkward  situation  in  New 
York. 

He  presses  me  much,  on  the  ground  of  my  personal  knowl 
edge  both  of  him  and  of  the  local  politics  of  New  York,  to 
give  you  my  opinion  in  a  decided  manner  on  that  subject;  which 
to  him  I  declined,  both  because  in  one  respect  it  was  not  made 
up,  and  because  my  own  opinion,  even  if  decided,  neither  ought 
nor  would  decide  yours.  The  propriety  of  removing  Rogers 
remains  with  me  the  doubtful  point :  after  Fish's  removal,  and 
that  of  others,  they  in  New  York  seem  to  suppose  that  the 


48  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1801. 

dismission  of  Rogers  is,  on  account  of  anti-revolutionary  ad 
herence  to  enemies,  unavoidable;  the  answer  to  New  Haven 
appears  to  have  left  no  doubt  on  their  minds  on  that  subject, 
and  I  apprehend  that  the  numerous  removals  already  made  by 
you  there,  and  the  almost  general  sweep  by  their  State  govern 
ment,  have  only  increased  the  anxiety  and  expectations  of  a 
total  change.  In  relation  to  Rogers  himself,  though  he  is  a 
good  officer,  I  would  feel  but  little  regret  at  his  being  dismissed, 
because  he  has  no  claim  detached  from  having  fulfilled  his  offi 
cial  duties,  has  made  an  independent  fortune  by  that  office,  and, 
having  no  personal  popularity,  cannot  lose  us  one  friend  nor 
make  us  one  enemy.  But  I  feel  a  great  reluctance  in  yield 
ing  to  that  general  spirit  of  persecution  which,  in  that  State 
particularly,  disgraces  our  cause  and  sinks  us  on  a  level  with 
our  predecessors. 

Whether  policy  must  yield  to  principle,  by  going  farther  into 
those  removals  than  justice  to  our  political  friends  and  the 
public  welfare  seem  to  require,  is  a  question  on  which  I  do  not 
feel  myself  at  present  capable  of  deciding. 

I  have  used  the  word  "persecution"  and,  I  think,  with  pro 
priety;  for  the  council  of  appointments  have  extended  their 
removals  to  almost  every  auctioneer,  and,  that  not  being  a  po 
litical  office,  the  two  parties  ought  certainly  to  have  an  equal 
chance  in  such  appointments. 

As  to  the  other  point,  if  Rogers  shall  be  removed,  I  have  no 
hesitation  in  saying  that  I  do  not  know  a  man  whom  I  would 
prefer  to  Mr.  Davis  for  that  office. 

This  may,  however,  be  owing  to  my  knowing  him  better  than 
I  do  others  who  may  be  equally  well  qualified.  I  believe  Davis 
to  be  a  man  of  talent  (particularly  quickness  and  correctness), 
suited  for  the  office,  of  strict  integrity,  untainted  reputation, 
and  pure  Republican  principles.  Nor  am  I  deterred  from  say 
ing  so  far  in  his  favor  on  account  of  any  personal  connection 
with  any  other  individuals ;  because  I  am  convinced  that  his 
political  principles  stand  not  on  the  frail  basis  of  PERSONS, 
but  are  conclusively  bottomed  on  conviction  of  their  truth,  and 
will  ever  govern  his  political  conduct.  So  far  as  I  think  a 
prejudice  against  him  in  that  respect  existed,  I  consider  myself 


1801.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  49 

in  justice  to  him  bound  to  declare  as  my  sincere  opinion. 
Farther  I  cannot  go. 

As  the  mail  will  reach  you  only  one  day  later  than  Mr.  Davis, 
I  will  defer  writing  on  business  till  Monday.  The  elections  of 
Maryland  are  decisively  in  our  favor :  twenty-six  to  fourteen  is 
the  probable  result, — a  majority  certain. 

I  feel  in  better  health  and  better  spirits  since  the  change  of 
weather,  which,  together  with  the  change  of  air,  seems  to  have 
had  a  favorable  effect  on  my  child's  health.  Mrs.  Gallatin  and 
her  daughter,  three  weeks  old,  are  very  well. 

Robert  Smith  is  and  will  continue  absent  for  some  time  longer. 
On  his  arriving  home  last  Saturday,  he  found  his  eldest  son 
dead,  and  his  wife  expects  daily  to  be  confined.  S.  Smith,  who 
wrote  me  on  the  subject,  [says]  that  this  ought  to  hasten  Mr. 
Madison's  return,  and  that  friends  and  foes  begin  to  complain 
of  long  absences.  I  wish  earnestly  we  may  all  meet  as  early  as 
possible,  yet  do  not  apprehend  any  inconvenience  to  have  yet 
resulted  for  the  public  service  from  your  absence. 

I  am,  with  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient 
servant. 

I  enclose  recommendations  sent  to  me  in  favor  of  Davis. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  14th  September,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR, — In  relation  to  Gardner  and  Campbell,  formerly 
clerks  in  the  Auditor's  office,  their  case  is  not  similar.  Gardner 
voluntarily  resigned  about  a  year  ago.  As  to  Campbell,  the 
Auditor  states  that  when  the  public  offices  were  about  to  be 
removed,  the  clerks,  and  he  among  the  number,  were  supplied 
an  advance  of  money  to  defray  their  expenses  to  Washington, 
that  Campbell  remained  behind  without  either  explaining  the 
cause  of  his  delay  or  intimating  his  final  intention,  and  that  his 
place,  after  being  kept  vacant  a  considerable  time,  was  at  length 
necessarily  supplied  by  another. 

Under  those  circumstances  the  Auditor  thinks  that  to  make 

VOL.  I. — 5 


50  WEITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1801. 

room  for  them  by  the  removal  of  others  would  be  doing  an  act 
of  injustice,  in  which  he  cannot  consent  to  have  any  agency. 

Mr.  Harrison  seemed  hurt  at  the  supposition  that  he  had  been 
guilty  of  any  act  of  wanton  injustice  or  political  intolerance,  at 
the  same  time  that  he  had  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  although 
Campbell  was  not  turned  out,  yet  if  he  had  returned  here,  and 
it  had  appeared  that  he  was  the  person  who  had  communicated 
official  papers  without  his  permission,  it  would  have  been  con 
sidered  as  a  breach  of  trust  and  a  sufficient  cause  of  removal. 
He  also  represented  that  an  interference  of  that  nature  was  in 
admissible,  for  if  C.  and  G.  had  been  dismissed  by  him,  no 
matter  for  what  cause,  how  could  he  possibly  submit  to  the 
indignity,  or  indeed  be  capable  of  performing  his  official  duties, 
and  amongst  others  that  of  directing  and  controlling  his  clerks, 
if  they  were  to  be  reinstated  upon  application  by  them  to  another 
than  himself? 

I  am  clearly  of  opinion  that  Campbell  under  all  circumstances 
ought  not  to  be  restored,  and  I  think  also  that,  as  a  general 
principle,  Mr.  Harrison's  last  observation  is  correct.  But  I 
must  in  candor  add  that  I  made  a  blunder  in  this  business: 
instead  of  speaking  to  Mr.  H.  in  my  own  name,  I  showed  him 
what  you  had  written  to  me,  and  he  considered  the  whole  as  done 
with  intention  of  hurting  his  feelings.  I  acted  awkwardly, 
because  acting  against  my  own  opinion  in  recommending  Camp 
bell's  restoration.  This  is,  however,  only  a  trifling  family  con 
troversy,  and  will  not  be  attended  with  any  other  eifect  abroad, 
except  giving  some  temporary  offence  to  Duane,  Beckley,  Israel, 
and  some  other  very  hot-headed  but,  I  believe,  honest  Repub 
licans.  This  leads  me  to  a  more  important  subject.  Pennsylvania 
is,  I  think,  fixed.  Although  we  have  there  amongst  our  friends 
several  office-hunters,  Republicanism  rests  there  on  principle 
pretty  generally,  and  it  rests  on  the  people  at  large,  there  not 
being  in  the  whole  State  a  single  individual  whose  influence 
could  command  even  now  one  county,  or  whose  defection  could 
lose  us  one  hundred  votes  at  an  election. 

It  is  ardently  to  be  wished  that  the  situation  of  New  York 
was  as  favorable;  but  so  much  seems  to  depend  in  that  State  on 
certain  individuals,  the  influence  of  a  few  is  so  great,  and  the 


1801.  LETTERS,    ETC.  51 

majority  in  the  city  of  New  York  (on  which,  unfortunately,  the 
majority  in  the  State  actually  depends,  that  city  making  one- 
eighth  of  the  whole)  is  so  artificial,  that  I  much  fear  that  we  will 
eventually  lose  that  State  before  next  election  of  President. 

The  most  favorable  event  would  certainly  be  the  division  of 
every  State  into  districts  for  the  election  of  electors;  with  that 
single  point,  and  only  common  sense  in  the  Administration, 
Republicanism  would  be  established  for  one  generation  at  least 
beyond  controversy  ;  but  if  not  obtainable  as  a  general  consti 
tutional  provision,  I  think  that  our  friends,  whilst  they  can, 
ought  to  introduce  it  immediately  in  New  York.  Davis's  visit 
to  Monticello  has  led  me  to  that  conclusion  by  drawing  my  atten 
tion  to  that  subject. 

There  are  also  two  points  connected  with  this  on  which  I  wish 
the  Republicans  throughout  the  Union  would  make  up  their  mind. 
Do  they  eventually  mean  not  to  support  Burr  as  your  successor 
when  you  shall  think  fit  to  retire  ?  Do  they  mean  not  to  sup 
port  him  at  next  election  for  Vice-President  ?  These  are  serious 
questions,  for  although  with  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland  we 
can  fear  nothing  so  long  as  you  will  remain  the  object  of  con 
tention  with  the  Federalists,  yet  the  danger  would  be  great 
should  any  unfortunate  event  deprive  the  people  of  your  services. 
Where  is  the  man  we  could  support  with  any  reasonable  pros 
pect  of  success  ?  Mr.  Madison  is  the  only  one,  and  his  being  a 
Virginian  would  be  a  considerable  objection.  But  if,  without 
thinking  of  events  more  distant  or  merely  contingent,  we  confine 
ourselves  to  the  next  election,  which  is  near  enough,  the  embar 
rassment  is  not  less ;  for  even  Mr.  Madison  cannot  on  that  oc 
casion  be  supported  with  you,  and  it  seems  to  me  that  there  are 
but  two  ways,  either  to  support  Burr  once  more,  or  to  give  only 
one  vote  for  President,  scattering  our  votes  for  the  other  person 
to  be  voted  for.  If  we  do  the  first,  we  run,  on  the  one  hand,  the 
risk  of  the  Federal  party  making  Burr  President,  and  we  seem, 
on  the  other,  to  give  him  an  additional  pledge  of  being  eventually 
supported  hereafter  by  the  Republicans  for  that  office.  If  we 
embrace  the  last  party,  we  not  only  lose  the  Vice-President,  but 
pave  the  way  for  the  Federal  successful  candidate  to  that  office 
to  become  President.  All  this  would  be  remedied  by  the  amend- 


52  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 

ment  of  distinguishing  the  votes  for  the  two  offices,  and  by  that 
of  dividing  the  States  into  districts.  But  as  it  is  extremely  un 
certain  whether  such  amendments  will  succeed,  we  must  act  on 
the  ground  of  elections  going  on  as  heretofore,  and  here  I  see 
the  danger,  but  cannot  discover  the  remedy.  It  is  indeed  but 
with  reluctance  that  I  can  ever  think  of  the  policy  necessary  to 
counteract  intrigues  and  personal  views,  and  wiser  men  than 
myself  must  devise  the  means ;  yet,  had  I  felt  the  same  diffi 
dence,  I  mean  total  want  of  confidence,  which  during  the  course 
of  last  winter  I  discovered  in  a  large  majority  of  the  Repub 
licans  towards  Burr,  I  would  have  been  wise  enough  never  to 
give  my  consent  in  favor  of  his  being  supported  last  election  as 
Vice-President.  In  this  our  party,  those  at  least  who  never 
could  be  reconciled  to  having  him  hereafter  as  President,  have 
made  a  capital  fault,  for  which  there  was  no  necessity  at  the 
time,  and  which  has  produced  and  will  produce  us  much  embar 
rassment.  I  need  not  add  that  so  far  as  your  Administration  can 
influence  anything  of  that  kind  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  act 
correctly,  unless  the  ultimate  object  is  ascertained.  Yet  I  do 
not  believe  that  we  can  do  much,  for  I  dislike  much  the  idea  of 
supporting  a  section  of  Republicans  in  New  York,  and  mistrust 
ing  the  great  majority,  because  that  section  is  supposed  to  be 
hostile  to  Burr,  and  he  is  considered  as  the  leader  of  that  majority. 
A  great  reason  against  such  policy  is  that  the  reputed  leaders  of 
that  section,  I  mean  the  Livingstons  generally,  and  some  broken 
remnants  of  the  Clintonian  party  who  hate  Burr  (for  Governor 
Clinton  is  out  of  question  and  will  not  act),  are  so  selfish  and  so 
un influential  that  they  never  can  obtain  their  great  object,  the 
State  government,  without  the  assistance  of  what  is  called  Burr's 
party,  and  will  not  hesitate  a  moment  to  bargain  for  that  object 
with  him  and  his  friends,  granting  in  exchange  their  support 
for  anything  he  or  they  may  want  out  of  the  State.  I  do  not 
include  in  that  number  the  Chancellor  nor  Mr.  Armstrong,  but 
the  first  is,  in  that  State,  only  a  name,  and  there  is  something 
which  will  forever  prevent  the  last  having  any  direct  influence 
with  the  people.  I  said  before  that  I  was  led  to  that  train  of 
ideas  by  Davis's  personal  application,  for  although  in  writing  to 
you  by  him  I  said,  as  I  sincerely  believe  it,  that  he  never  would 


1801.  LETTEES,   ETC.  53 

or  could  be  influenced  by  B.  or  any  other  person  to  do  an  im 
proper  act,  or  anything  which  could  hurt  the  general  Republican 
principle,  yet  it  is  not  to  be  doubted  that  after  all  that  has  been 
said  on  the  subject  his  refusal  will,  by  Burr,  be  considered  as  a 
declaration  of  war.  The  Federals  have  been  busy  on  the  occa 
sion.  Tillotson  also  has  said  many  things  which  might  not  have 
been  said  with  equal  propriety,  and  I  do  know  that  there  is 
hardly  a  man  who  meddles  with  politics  in  New  York  who  does 
not  believe  that  Davis's  rejection  is  owing  to  Burr's  recommen 
dation.  On  that  as  well  as  on  many  other  accounts  I  was  anx 
ious  to  prevent  Davis's  journey  ;  but  to  want  of  early  education 
and  mixing  with  the  world  I  ascribe  his  want  of  sense  of  pro 
priety  on  this  occasion,  and  his  going  is  the  worst  thing  I  have 
known  of  him. 

I  leave  this  subject  with  pleasure,  and  yet  find  that  I  have 
in  a  hurry  thrown  my  ideas  on  it  in  such  a  confused  manner  as 
would  require  a  revision,  but  I  trust  in  your  indulgence  and 
candor. 

I  enclose  Mr.  Milledge's  and  Mr.  Few's  letters,  and  will,  in 
pursuance  with  your  last  letter  but  one,  direct  a  commission  for 
Mr.  Thomas  Johnson,  the  person  recommended  by  Governor 
Jackson. 

A  Mr.  Richard  Parrot  called  this  morning  on  me  to  tell  me 
that  the  office  of  collector  of  Georgetown  was  vacant,  and  that 
he  had  been  formerly  recommended  to  you.  Mr.  Habersham 
has  not  communicated  anything  to  me. 

I  have  not  seen  the  despatches  from  France,  and  do  not  know 
on  what  ground  you  have  determined  to  send  the  minister  to 
France  at  present,  but  it  will  at  least  afford  an  argument  to 
those  who  have  attacked  the  sending  of  Mr.  Dawson.  Why 
not  send  Mr.  Livingston  at  first  ?  and  if  that  was  improper  then, 
why  is  it  proper  now? 

An  answer  to  this  should  be  ready  to  go  to  the  public  when 
his  departure  shall  be  announced.  The  list  of  warrants  is 
enclosed,  as  usual. 

Believe  me  to  be,  with  great  and  sincere  respect  and  attach 
ment,  your  obedient  servant. 


54                        WRITINGS  OF    GALLATIN.                     1801. 

Mr.  Smith  is  still  absent.  Several  of  the  more  decent  Fed 
eral  papers  begin  to  attack  the  absence  of  so  many  members 
of  the  Administration. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  September  18,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  favors  of  the  7th,  12th,  and  14th  instant 
came  to  hand  yesterday,  consequently  that  of  the  7th  must  have 
slept  a  week  somewhere.  Mr.  Davis  is  now  with  me ;  he  has  not 
opened  himself.  When  he  does,  I  shall  inform  him  that  nothing 
is  decided  nor  can  be  till  we  get  together  at  Washington.  I 
keep  all  the  letters  of  recommendation  of  him  which  you  en 
closed  me,  as  also  Milledge's  letter,  and  return  you  all  your 
other  papers.  I  approve  of  your  intended  application  to  Gen 
eral  Heard  for  a  successor  to  White,  and  wish  you  to  appoint 
any  one  whom  his  recommendation  or  other  better  evidence 
shall  place  in  your  view  as  the  best.  As  to  the  successor  to 
Powell,  of  Savannah,  I  should  think  the  person  on  whom 
Milledge  and  Jackson  both  unite  might  be  safely  appointed.  I 
will  write  to  inquire  for  a  substitute  for  Wilkins,  of  Cherry 
Stone.  As  to  Jarvis's  successor,  will  it  not  be  better  to  wait  for 
General  Dearborn,  who,  I  suppose,  will  be  at  Washington  as 
early  as  I  shall,  or  nearly  so  ?  not,  however,  that  I  know  this, 
but  only  presume  it.  I  am  glad  you  have  yourself  settled 
Worthington's  appointment,  as  I  possess  no  knowledge  which 
could  have  aided  you.  In  the  case  of  Caynga  and  Cincinnati, 
where  you  seem  to  be  without  information,  it  is  probable  Cap 
tain  Lewis  can  help  us  out.  He  is  well  acquainted  there.  Being 
absent  at  this  time,  I  have  not  an  opportunity  of  asking  him, 
but  he  will  be  on  with  me  at  Washington  on  or  before  the  last 
day  of  the  month.  With  respect  to  Gardner  and  Campbell,  I 
must  leave  them  to  yourself.  I  think  we  are  bound  to  take  care 
of  them.  Could  we  not  procure  them  as  good  berths  as  their 
former  at  least,  in  some  of  the  custom-houses  ?  One  part  of  the 
subject  of  one  of  your  letters  is  of  a  nature  which  forbids  my 
interference  altogether.  The  amendment  to  the  Constitution, 


1801.  LETTEES,    ETC.  55 

of  winch  you  speak,  would  be  a  remedy  to  a  certain  degree. 
So  will  a  different  amendment  which  I  know  will  be  proposed, 
to  wit,  to  have  no  electors,  but  let  the  people  vote  directly,  and 
the  ticket  which  has  a  plurality  of  the  votes  of  any  State  to  be 
considered  as  receiving  thereby  the  whole  vote  of  the  State.  Our 
motions  with  respect  to  Livingston  are  easily  explained :  it  was 
impossible  for  him  to  go  off  in  the  instant  he  was  named,  or 
on  shorter  warning  than  two  or  three  months.  In  the  mean  time, 
Bingham  and  others,  mercantile  men,  complained  in  Congress 
that  we  were  losing  so  many  thousand  dollars  every  day  till  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty.  A  vessel  to  carry  it  was  prepared  by 
our  predecessors,  and  all  the  preparatory  expenses  of  her  mission 
incurred.  This  is  the  reason  why  Mr.  L.  did  not  go  then. 
The  reason  why  he  must  go  now  is  that  difficulties  have  arisen 
unexpectedly  in  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  which  we  believe 
him  more  capable  of  getting  over  than  Mr.  Murray.  We  think 
that  the  state  of  the  treaty  there  calls  earnestly  for  the  presence 
of  a  person  of  talents  and  confidence ;  we  would  rather  trust 
him  than  Murray  in  shaping  any  new  modification. 

I  sincerely  congratulate  you  on  the  better  health  of  your  son, 
as  well  as  on  the  new  addition  to  your  family,  and  Mrs.  Galla- 
tin's  convalescence.  I  consider  it  as  a  trying  experiment  for  a 
person  from  the  mountains  to  pass  the  two  bilious  months  on 
the  tide-water.  I  have  not  done  it  these  forty  years,  and  nothing 
should  induce  me  to  do  it.  As  it  is  not  possible  but  that  the 
Administration  must  take  some  portion  of  time  for  their  own 
affairs,  I  think  it  best  they  should  select  that  season  for  absence. 
General  Washington  set  the  example  of  those  two  months ;  Mr. 
Adams  extended  them  to  eight  months.  I  should  not  suppose 
our  bringing  it  back  to  two  months  a  ground  for  grumbling,  but, 
grumble  who  will,  I  will  never  pass  those  months  on  tide-water. 
Accept  assurances  of  my  constant  and  sincere  esteem  and  respect. 


56  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIK  1801. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  September  21,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  nothing  new  to  communicate,  expecting 
to  see  you  in  a  few  days,  and  being  much  engaged  this  day.  I 
only  enclose  the  list  of  warrants  and  two  letters :  one  from 
Mr.  Dent  applying  for  the  Treasurer's  office,  and  one  from  Dr. 
Bache,  to  which  last  I  am  at  a  loss  how  to  answer.  Mr.  Haber- 
shara  seems  embittered  and  determined  not  to  accept  the  office 
of  Treasurer. 

I  can  go  on  with  the  routine  of  this  Department,  but  I  have 
not  been  used  to  be  so  long  left  to  myself  for  everything,  and, 
besides  the  pleasure  I  will  feel  in  seeing  you,  am  on  public 
accounts  extremely  anxious  for  your  arrival.  Robert  Smith 
returned  only  last  night.  General  Dearborn  expects  to  leave 
home  the  24th. 

With  great  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

October  3,  1801. 

The  inducement  which  you  propose  in  order  to  engage  Powell 
to  bring  up  his  accounts  is  approved ;  so  is  also  the  idea  of  collect 
ing  men  of  talents  about  us,  even  in  offices  which  do  not  need 
them.  Upon  the  principle  of  distribution  also  I  doubt  if  the 
Treasury  should  be  given  to  Maryland. 

With  respect  to  Dr.  Bache  I  must  have  some  conversation 
with  you ;  as  to  the  office  of  Postmaster-General,  he  might  be 
told  that  an  arrangement,  made  as  soon  as  the  resignation  took 
place,  binds  us  up  from  any  change.  Health  and  respect. 


1801.  LETTERS,   ETC.  57 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

"WASHINGTON,  October  9,  1801. 

DEAR  SIK, — I  return  you  Mr.  Dallas's  opinion  on  the  ques 
tion  whether  the  goods  of  a  citizen  taken  by  one  belligerent 
in  the  bottom  of  another  may  be  received  here,  with  the  consent 
of  the  captor,  by  the  owner.  His  idea  that,  by  the  principle 
established  with  France  that  enemy  bottoms  make  enemy  goods, 
these  goods  are  assimilated  to  the  real  enemy  goods  which  were 
on  board,  is  imposing  at  first  view,  but  yields,  in  my  opinion, 
to  further  consideration.  For  whose  benefit  was  that  principle 
established?  Clearly  for  the  benefit  of  the  captor;  and  how 
can  a  third  party,  not  interested  in  the  question,  prevent  him 
from  relinquishing  his  benefit  in  favor  of  our  citizen  ?  Ransom 
or  fraud  may  make  another  question  of  it;  but  while  it  is  stated 
as  a  bona  fide  relinquishment  of  the  benefit  which  the  treaty 
between  France  and  us  had  introduced  for  the  captor,  I  cannot 
conceive  that  the  owner  of  the  bottom  has  a  right  to  object. 
Suppose  the  British  owner  had  ransomed  his  vessel,  or  that  the 
captor  had  ceded  to  him  the  benefit  which  the  laws  of  war  had 
given  him  by  making  capture  a  transfer  of  property,  could  we, 
who  have  no  interest  nor  right  embarked  in  the  question,  con 
trol  their  transaction  ?  It  would  really  be  hard  that  the  goods 
of  our  own  citizen,  relinquished  to  him  by  the  captor,  should 
be  prohibited  by  us  from  our  own  ports.  Yet,  as  we  have  no 
Attorney-General  here,  I  would  not  proceed  against  Mr.  Dallas's 
opinion.  I  wish  it  may  go  off  on  your  first  letter  supposing  a 
consent  of  all  parties,  or,  if  the  British  minister  objects,  I  wish 
Mr.  Hancock  could  find  some  means  of  carrying  it  into  court. 
Whether  this  can  be  done  by  mandamus  I  am  not  satisfied.  If 
it  could,  it  would  be  a  prompt  trial  of  the  question.  Should  the 
case  come  back  to  us  on  the  dissent  of  the  British  minister,  it  is 
so  important  as  a  first  precedent  that  great  consideration  must 
be  bestowed  on  it.  Health  and  respect. 


58  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

[9th  November,  1801.] 

DEAR  SIR, — Enclosed  you  will  find  the  letters  received  by 
last  mail  (one  excepted  from  Surveyor-General,  on  which  I  have 
not  yet  formed  an  opinion).  I  would  suggest  the  propriety  of 
my  not  sending  those  which  require  certain  previous  inquiries, 
such  as  those  of  Th.  Worthington,  E.  Boudinot,  J.  Ingersoll, 
until  after  the  inquiries  have  been  made  and  an  opinion  formed, 
when  the  whole  subject  may  be  laid  before  you.  I  also  enclose 
two  drafts  of  letters,  one  on  Mr.  Pichon's  application  and  the 
other  in  relation  to  an  apparently  delinquent  collector. 

I  send  along  with  this  a  bundle  of  what  we  call  public  letters, 
also  received  by  mail.  The  greater  part  of  these  are  endorsed  so 
as  to  be  distinguishable,  and  are  opened  by  the  principal  clerks. 
They  consist  principally  of  the  weekly  statements,  &c.,  of  col 
lectors,  never  require  any  answer,  except  when  at  the  end  of  a 
quarter  the  result  does  not  agree  with  the  quarterly  accounts  or 
they  exhibit  too  much  money  in  hands  of  a  collector. 

I  never  look  at  them,  but  they  are  entered  in  a  book,  which 
has  been  prepared  under  my  direction  by  one  of  the  clerks,  so  as 
to  exhibit  weekly  a  general  view  of  all  the  transactions.  From 
that  book  a  weekly  sheet  is  made  out  exhibiting  the  balance  in 
hands  of  collectors,  &c.,  subject  to  drafts  of  the  Treasury,  and 
that  general  view  enables  to  draw  upon  them,  to  call  on  them, 
when  necessary,  for  more  regular  returns,  and  sometimes  to 
institute  inquiries,  as  in  Mr.  Gerry's  case. 

I  do  not  suppose  you  want  to  see  those  letters,  but  have  sent 
them  as  a  sample,  and  will  confine  myself  hereafter  to  letters  on 
which  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  act,  unless  you  shall  otherwise 
direct. 

The  whole  of  my  correspondence  is  generally  very  insipid, 
consisting  of  petty  details,  &c.,  and  I  have  as  much  as  possible 
abridged  it.  It  will  by  no  means  convey  just  ideas  of  the  real 
business  of  this  Department ;  this,  as  well  as  the  object  you  have 
generally  in  view  and  which  is  of  primary  importance,  can,  in  my 
opinion,  be  obtained  only  by  regular  meetings. 


1801. 


LETTEKS,    ETC. 


59 


It  seems  to  me  that  a  general  conference  once  a  week,  to  which 
might  be  added  private  conferences  of  the  President  with  each 
of  the  Secretaries  respectively  once  or  twice  a  week,  is  a  necessary 
measure ;  but  those  conferences  should  be  fixed  on  certain  days 
and  hours,  otherwise  they  will  be  only  occasional,  and,  as  we 
have  already  experienced,  often  omitted.  Feeling,  as  I  do,  the 
necessity  of  concert,  I  make  no  apology  for  the  suggestion. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 


November  11,  1801. 


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lf| 

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a 

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M 

Bank  U.  S  
New  York  

5,000,000 
581,819 

1,450,000 
809,894 

12,150,000 
2,718,736 

5,460,000 
562,563 

5,200,000 
1,027,000 

3,560.000 
704,280 

5,240,000 
1,390,046 

40,000  '  10,000,000 
1,800,000 

Boston  

649,009      149,736    1,791,143 

1    767,360 

955,365 

459,571 

i      700,000 

Baltimore  

Norfolk 

554,933:    232,583    1,575,766:  I    938,025 
7801691     ii4«sq!      4017011                  !    4/1*37^ 

487,446 

AA*.  7Q7 

435,249 

97«  91  O 



600,000 
250  000 

Charleston        ..  . 

94l'500 

543*414 

1  968  003                 !  1  3'  *  Q'W  !    4i  9,':«fi  i  1  94  047  1 

eoo'ooo 

8,926,032 

8,507,430 

3,300,510 

20,695,438 

6,022,563 

9,653,6ai 

6,565,224 

40,000 

13,950,000 

The  bank  statements  are  new  to  me  and  present  curious  in 
formation  :  to  obtain  a  general  idea  I  have  brought  them  together 
as  above,  very  inaccurately,  omitting  some  items  I  did  not  under 
stand,  lumping  others  perhaps  ill  understood ;  but  such  an  ab 
stract  accurately  made  would  be  interesting.  For  this  purpose  it 
would  require  in  the  first  place  a  judicious  form  to  be  devised, 
and  that  sent  to  all  the  banks  with  a  request  they  would  put 
their  statements  into  that  form.  It  would  then  be  easy  to  gen 
eralize  every  set  of  returns,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year  to  make 
an  average  from  the  whole.  And  why  should  not  the  bottom  line 
of  the  yearly  average  be  presented  to  Congress  ?  It  would  give 
us  the  benefit  of  their  and  of  the  public  observations,  and  betray 
no  secret  as  to  any  particular  bank. 

I  enclose  you  a  letter  concerning  Cherry  ston's,  of  which  I  can 
make  little.  The  applications  for  moneys  due  on  appropriations 


60  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 

may  certainly  be  omitted  to  be  sent  to  me,  as  the  effect  appears 
in  the  weekly  abstract  of  warrants.  Those  conveying  informa 
tion  of  what  is  passing  or  of  the  state  of  things  are  the  desirable. 
Dr.  Tucker's  coming  into  office  may  be  fixed  for  the  1st  day  of 
December.  Health  and  good  wishes. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

November  12,  1801. 

The  supervisor  of  New  Hampshire  (Rogers)  was  a  Revolu 
tionary  Tory.  I  am  therefore  ready  to  change  him. 

If  we  are  to  appoint  a  Federalist  at  Cherryton's,  I  have  no 
doubt  that  Bowdoin  is  preferable  to  any  other.  His  family  has 
been  among  the  most  respectable  on  that  shore  for  many  gen 
erations  :  if,  however,  we  have  any  means  of  inquiry,  we  ought 
to  avail  ourselves  of  them. 

Mr.  Read's  letter  I  forward  to  Mr.  Madison  merely  to  bring 
the  establishment  of  those  agents  under  his  notice.  He  will 
return  it  to  you. 

The  enclosed  rough  draft  of  a  message  I  had  prepared  for  the 
Senate  will  show  you  the  views  in  conformity  with  which  were 
all  the  instructions  which  went  from  hence  relative  to  the  Sena 
torial  complaint  against  Duane.  My  idea  of  the  new  prosecu 
tion  was  not  that  our  Attorney  should  ever  be  heard  to  urge  the 
common  law  of  England  as  in  force  otherwise  than  so  far  as 
adopted  in  any  particular  State,  but  that,  1st,  he  should  renew  it 
in  the  Federal  court  if  he  supposed  there  was  any  Congressional 
statute  which  had  provided  for  the  case  (other  than  the  Sedition 
Act),  or  if  he  thought  he  could  show  that  the  Senate  had  made 
or  adopted  such  a  lex  parliamentaria  as  might  reach  the  case ;  or, 
2d,  that  he  should  bring  the  prosecution  in  the  State  court  of 
Pennsylvania,  if  any  statute  of  that  State,  or  statutory  adoption 
of  the  common  law  of  England,  had  made  the  offence  punish 
able.  These  were  my  views.  They  were  not  particularly  given 
by  way  of  instruction  to  the  Attorney,  because  it  was  presumed 
they  would  occur  to  him,  and  we  did  not  choose,  by  prescribing 


1801.  LETTEKS,  ETC.  61 

his  line  of  procedure  exactly,  to  take  on  ourselves  an  unnecessary 
responsibility.  I  will  thank  you  to  return  the  paper,  as  well 
for  this  message  as  the  sketches,  on  the  back  of  it,  of  some  para 
graphs  of  the  first  message  to  Congress,  of  which,  in  a  day  or 
two,  I  shall  ask  your  revisal.  In  that  the  Sedition  law  will  be 
presented  under  another  view.  Health  and  good  wishes. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

[Received]  15th 

DEAR  SIR, —  .  .  .  No  letters  received  by  last  mail? 
I  have  found  so  much  difficulty  in  arranging,  or  rather  pro 
curing  correct  statements  amongst  the  Treasury  documents,  that 
I  cannot  yet  give  any  probable  estimate  of  the  revenue  within 
half  a  million, — of  course  cannot  give  any  opinion  of  the  pro 
priety  of  abolishing  the  internal  revenues ;  but  I  am  clearly  of 
opinion  they  should  all  go  or  all  remain.  It  would  not  be  worth 
while  to  preserve  the  excise  alone  at  such  monstrous  expense 
and  inconvenience  as  the  collection  now  costs.  The  two  docu 
ments  of  "receipts  and  expenditures  for  1 800,"  and  of  "estimates 
for  1802,"  cannot  accompany  your  message,  as  they  are  directed 
by  positive  resolutions  of  the  House  to  be  laid  yearly  before 
them  by  the  Secretary.  But  as  they  must  be  supposed  to  have 
been  communicated  by  him  to  you,  they  may  with  propriety  be 
referred  to  in  the  message.  They  are  matters  of  form  prepared 
by  the  Register,  and  to  which  for  the  present  year  I  have  con 
cluded  to  make  no  alteration  in  point  of  form. 

If  possible,  I  will  on  Tuesday  lay  before  you  general  results 
sufficient  to  give  you  all  the  information  you  may  want  in  rela 
tion  to  the  general  views  you  intend  exhibiting  in  the  mes 
sage.  But  in  the  mean  while  could  you  calculate  what  will 
be  the  annual  sum  wanted  to  pay  the  interest  on,  and  pay  off 
within  eight  years,  a  debt  of  $21, 955,900,  bearing  an  interest  of 
$1,310,401  $k;  it  being  premised  that  $6,481,700,  part  of  the 
said  debt,  bears  an  interest  of  eight  per  cent.,  and  must  be  paid 
the  last ;  and  that  §950,965  of  the  debt  are  already  paid  out  of 


62  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 

the  Treasury,  but  without  stopping  the  interest.  If  three  mil 
lions  will  do,  I  think  we  can,  with  the  impost  and  lands,  pay 
off  thirty-eight  millions  within  the  eight  years  1802-1809.  The 
total  amount  of  unredeemed  debt  on  1st  January,  1802,  will  be 
$77,866,402^,  of  which  we  shall  have  already  remitted  to 
Holland  the  above-stated  sum  of  $950,965.  The  reduction,  or 
rather  abolition,  of  internal  revenues  will  necessarily  depend  on 
the  extent  of  the  navy  establishment. 

I  will  give  a  first  reading  to-morrow  to  the  sketch  of  the 
message,  and  write  some  notes;  but  I  cannot  pay  to  it  the  proper 
attention  till  after  Tuesday,  and  will  of  course  return  it  Monday 
morning  with  a  wish  to  see  it  afterwards  once  more. 

Eespectfully,  your  most  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

November  14,  1801. 

Thomas  Jefferson  asks  the  favor  of  Mr.  Gal  latin  to  examine 
the  enclosed  rough  draft  of  what  is  proposed  for  his  first 
communication  to  Congress;  not  merely  the  part  relating  to 
finance,  but  the  whole.  Several  paragraphs  are  only  provision 
ally  drawn,  to  be  altered  or  omitted  according  to  further  infor 
mation.  The  whole  respecting  finance  is  predicated  on  a  general 
view  of  the  subject  presented  according  to  what  I  wish,  but 
subject  to  the  particular  consultation  which  Th.  J.  wishes  to 
have  with  Mr.  Gallatin,  and  especially  to  the  calculation  pro 
posed  to  be  made  as  to  the  adequacy  of  the  impost  to  the  support 
of  government  and  discharge  of  the  public  debt,  for  which  Mr. 
G.  is  to  furnish  correct  materials  for  calculation.  The  part  re 
specting  the  navy  has  not  yet  been  opened  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Navy.  What  belongs  to  the  Departments  of  State  and  War  is 
in  unison  with  the  ideas  of  those  gentlemen.  Th.  J.  asks  the 
favor  of  Mr.  Gallatin  to  devote  the  first  moments  he  can  spare 
to  the  enclosed,  and  to  make  notes  on  a  separate  paper,  with 
pencilled  references  at  the  passages  noted  on.  Health  and  hap 
piness. 


1801.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  63 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NOTES  ON  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE. 

November,  1801. 

Foreign  powers  friendly : — Effect.  If  redress  is  meant,  it  seems 
wrong  to  raise  expectations  which  probably  will  be  disappointed. 
Quere,  whether  Mr.  King's  negotiation  should  be  hinted  at. 

Indians: — Should  not  the  attempt  to  treat  be  mentioned, 
stating  also  the  determination  not  to  press  upon  them  any  dis 
agreeable  demand  ?  This  to  guard  against  any  blame  which  the 
imprudence  of  the  Commissioners  might  occasion. 

Tripoli: — More  stress  might  be  laid  on  the  protection  afforded 
by  the  frigates  to  our  vessels  which  had  been  long  blockaded, 
and  on  the  imminent  peril  from  which  our  commerce  in  the 
Atlantic  was  preserved  by  the  timely  arrival  of  our  squadron  at 
the  moment  when  the  Tripolitans  had  already  reached  Gibraltar. 
This  early,  &c.: — It  will  be  said  that  the  specimen  had  already 
been  given  by  Truxton. 

Finances.  In  nearly  the  same  ratio,  &c. : — The  revenue  has  in-  • 
creased  more  than  in  the  same  ratio  with  population:  1st.  Because  j 
our  wealth  has  increased  in  a  greater  ratio  than  population.  2d. 
Because  the  seaports  and  towns,  which  consume  imported  articles 
much  more  than  the  country,  have  increased  in  a  greater  pro 
portion.  (See  census  of  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  Balti 
more,  and  compare  their  increase  with  that  of  United  States.) 
The  greater  increase  of  wealth  is  due  in  part  to  our  natural 
situation,  but  principally  to  our  neutrality  during  the  war ;  an 
evident  proof  of  the  advantages  of  peace  notwithstanding  the 
depredations  of  the  belligerent  powers. 

We  may  safely  calculate  on  a  certain  augmentation,  and  war 
indeed  and  unfortunate  calamities  may  change,  &c. : — It  appears 
perfectly  correct  to  make  our  calculations  and  arrangements 
without  any  regard  to  alterations  which  might  be  produced  by 
the  possible  though  improbable  event  of  the  United  States  being 
involved  in  a  war ;  but  the  alteration  which  may  be  produced 
by  the  restoration  of  peace  in  Europe  should  be  taken  into  con 
sideration.  A  reduction  in  the  price  of  our  exports  would 
diminish  our  ability  of  paying,  and  therefore  of  consuming  im- 


64  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 

ported  articles ;  and  it  is  perhaps  as  much  as  can  be  hoped  for, 
if,  taking  an  average  of  six  or  eight  years  immediately  succeed 
ing  the  peace,  the  natural  increase  of  population  was  sufficient 
to  counterbalance  the  decrease  of  consumption  arising  from  that 
cause.  But,  supposing  these  to  balance  one  another,  there  is  still 
another  cause  of  decrease  of  revenue  arising  from  peace  in  Europe. 
Our  enormous  carrying  trade  of  foreign  articles  must  be  dimin 
ished  by  the  peace.  Having  been  much  disappointed  in  the 
correctness  of  some  of  the  custom-house  and  Treasury  documents 
on  which  I  depended,  I  cannot  ascertain  with  precision,  but  do 
not  think  far  from  the  truth  the  following  result,  viz. :  that  from 
•|-  to  ^  of  our  impost  revenue  is  raised  on  articles  not  consumed 
here,  but  exported  without  being  entitled  to  drawback,  either 
because  they  have  remained  more  than  one  year  in  the  country, 
or  are  exported  in  too  small  parcels  to  be  entitled,  or  for  any 
other  cause  not  ascertained.  This  item  of  revenue  is  not  perhaps 
less  at  present  than  $1,200,000,  and,  as  it  does  not  rest  on  con 
sumption,  but  on  an  overgrown  and  accidental  commerce,  must 
be  deducted  from  any  calculation  grounded  on  the  gradual 
increase  of  population  and  consumption.  Could  we  depend 
only  on  a  continuance  of  the  present  revenue  from  impost,  we 
might  at  once  dispense  with  all  the  internal  taxes.  For  the 
receipts  from  that  source  for  the  year  ending  30  June,  1801, 
were  $9,550,500 

to  which  must  be  added  -^  of  the  additional 
duties  on  sugar,  and  \^  of  the  additional  duties 
of  2-J-  per  cent,  on  merchandise  which,  prior  to 
30th  June,  1800,  paid  only ^10  per  cent.;  those 
additional  duties,  on  account  of  the  credit  given 
on  duties,  operated  only  in  the  proportion  of  -f$ 
on  the  sugar  duty  and  of  -£%  on  the  additional  2-J- 
per  cent,  for  the  year  ending  30  June,  1801. 
These  -^g-  and  -^  °f  fc^e  respective  additional 
duties  are  equal  to  about  $520,000 

So  that  the  present  revenue  from  impost  is  not  less 
than  $10,000,000 

But  a  permanent  revenue  from  impost  would  be 
sufficient  if  amounting  to  $9,500,000 


1801.  LETTERS,    ETC.  (J5 

For,  adding  to  it  §250,000  for  lands  and  $50,000 
for  postage  $300,000 

$9,800,000 

and  deducting  for  interest  and  payment  of  the 
debt  a  yearly  sum  of  7,200,000 

which  will  pay  off  about  38  millions  (Quere,  I 
think  $150,000  more  a  year  will  be  necessary) 
of  the  principal  in  eight  years,  leaves  $2,600,000 

for  the  expenses  of  government,  which  I  estimate 
in  the  gross  as  followeth:  civil  list,  600,000; 
miscellaneous,  200,000 ;  foreign  intercourse, 
200,000 ;  1,000,000 

Military;  the  estimate  for  this  year  is  1,120,000; 
f-  of  which,  as  per  proposed  reduction,  is,  say,  672,000 

Indian  Department,  72,000 ;  fortifications,  120,- 
000 ;  arsenals  and  armories,  66,000 ;  258,000 

leaving  for  the  navy  a  sum  equal  to  that  for  the 
army :  670,000 

$2,600,000 

But,  for  causes  already  assigned,  I  dare  not  estimate  the  im 
post  for  the  eight  years  1802-1809  at  more  than  an  average 
of  $9,000,000  to  $9,250,000.  It  must,  however,  be  observed 
that  our  expenditure  of  navy  and  foreign  intercourse  may  be 
diminished  when  a  general  peace  takes  place. 

Now  laid  before  you: — The  statements  and  report  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  are  by  resolutions  and  by  law  re 
spectively  laid  before  Congress  by  the  Secretary.  It  would  be 
better  to  say :  "  which,  according  to  law  and  the  orders  of  the 
two  Houses,  will  be  laid  before  you." 

Taxes  on  stamps,  <fcc.,  may  be  immediately  suppressed: — Al 
though  the  Executive  has  a  right  to  recommend  the  suppression 
of  any  one  tax,  yet  in  ordinary  cases  it  seems  more  proper  to 
recommend  or  suggest  generally  a  reduction  of  taxes  without 
designating  particularly  some  of  them.  If  the  recommendation 
could  be  general  as  to  a  whole  class  of  taxes,  such  as  all  internal 
taxes,  it  would  not  have  so  much  the  appearance  of  what  may 
be  attacked  as  an  interference  with  legislative  details. 

Economies  in  civil  list: — These  may  be  popular,  but   I  am 

VOL.  I. — 6 


66  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1801. 

confident  that  no  Department  is  less  susceptible  of  reform ;  it  is 
by  far  that  in  which  less  abuse  has  been  practised;  it  exceeds 
but  little  the  original  sum  set  apart  for  that  object ;  the  reason 
is,  that  it  being  the  one  to  which  the  people  are  most  attentive, 
it  has  been  most  closely  watched,  and  any  increase  attempted 
but  with  caution  and  repelled  with  perseverance.  At  an  early 
period  I  examined  it  critically,  and  the  reductions  which  might 
be  made  appeared  so  trifling,  that  the  whole  time  I  was  in  Con 
gress,  eager  as  we  all  were  to  propose  popular  measures  and  to 
promote  economy,  I  never  proposed,  nor  do  I  remember  to  have 
seen  a  single  reduction  proposed.  It  seems  to  me  that  the 
subject  may  be  mentioned,  but  less  stress  laid  on  it. 

Expenses  of  foreign  intercourse : — The  Diplomatic  Department 
forms  but  a  small  item  of  these;  the  expenses  attending  the 
Barbary  powers,  and  principally  those  which  are  incurred  by 
consuls,  for  ministers  and  agents,  for  prosecution  of  claims  and 
relief  of  seamen  abroad,  deserve  particular  consideration.  If 
any  measure  has  been  taken  to  check  these,  it  might  be  men 
tioned  ;  if  the  subject  has  not  yet  been  attended  to,  I  would 
prefer  using  the  word  diplomatic,  or  foreign  ministers,  rather 
than  the  general  words  "  foreign  intercourse. " 

Navy : — If  possible,  it  would  be  better  to  avoid  a  direct  recom 
mendation  to  continue  in  actual  service  a  part  of  it :  this  subject 
should,  as  far  as  practicable,  be  treated  generally,  leaving  the 
Legislature  to  decide  exclusively  upon  it. 

/  communicate  an  account  of  receipts,  &c. ;  also  appropriations : 
— All  those  documents  prepared  and  signed  by  the  Register  are 
transmitted  on  the  first  week  of  the  session  by  the  Secretary  to 
Congress.  By  the  law  constituting  the  Treasury  Department, 
it  is  enacted  that  the  Secretary  shall  lay  before  Congress  or 
either  House  such  reports,  documents,  &c.,  as  he  may  be  directed 
from  time  to  time.  Hence  the  invariable  practice  has  been 
to  call  for  financial  information  directly  on  the  Treasury  De 
partment,  except  in  the  case  of  loans,  where  the  authority  had 
been  given  to  the  President ;  and  for  information  respecting 
Army,  Navy,  or  State  Department,  the  application  is  always  to 
the  President,  requesting  him  to  direct,  &c.  The  distinction, 
it  is  presumable,  has  been  made  in  order  to  leave  to  Congress 


1801.  LETTERS,   ETC.  67 

a  direct  power,  uncontrolled  by  the  Executive,  on  financial  docu 
ments  and  information  as  connected  with  money  and  revenue 
subjects.  It  would  at  present  be  much  more  convenient  to  follow 
a  different  course  ;  if  instead  of  six  or  seven  reports  called  for  by 
the  standing  orders  of  one  or  the  other  House  I  could  throw  them 
all  into  one,  to  be  made  to  you,  it  would  unite  the  advantages 
of  simplicity  and  perspicuity  to  that  of  connection  with  the 
reports  made  by  the  other  Departments,  as  all  might  then  be 
presented  to  Congress  through  you  and  by  you ;  but  I  fear  that 
it  would  be  attacked  as  an  attempt  to  dispense  with  the  orders 
of  the  Houses  or  of  Congress  if  the  usual  reports  were  not  made 
in  the  usual  manner  to  them ;  and  if  these  are  still  made,  it 
becomes  useless  for  you  to  communicate  duplicates.  But  the 
j)aragraph  may  be  easily  modified  by  saying,  u  The  accounts, 
&c.,  will  show,  &c."  Quere,  whether  this  remarkable  distinc 
tion,  which  will  be  found  to  pervade  all  the  laws  relative  to 
the  Treasury  Department,  was  not  introduced  to  that  extent  in 
order  to  give  to  Mr.  Hamilton  a  department  independent  of 
every  executive  control  ?  It  may  be  remembered  that  he  claimed 
under  those  laws  the  right  of  making  reports  and  proposing 
reforms,  &c.,  without  being  called  on  for  the  same  by  Congress. 
This  was  a  Presidential  power,  for  by  the  Constitution  the  Pres 
ident  is  to  call  on  the  Departments  for  information,  and  has 
alone  the  power  of  recommending.  But  in  the  present  case, 
see  the  Act  supplementary  to  the  Act  establishing  the  Treasury 
Department,  passed  in  1800. 

Navy-yards: — Too  much  seems  to  be  said  in  favor  of  the 
navy-yard  here.  Six  appear  too  many,  and  the  Legislature 
having  heretofore  authorized  but  two,  it  seems  that  a  stronger 
recommendation  to  authorize  a  reduction  of  the  number  might 
be  made,  and  a  suggestion  of  the  propriety  of  regulating  by  law 
to  what  kind  of  officers  their  immediate  superintendence  should 
be  committed. 

Few  harbors  in  the  United  States  offer,  &c. : — Is  that  fact  certain  ? 
Portsmouth,  Philadelphia,  and  even  Boston,  are  perfectly  defen 
sible.  But  if  true,  should  it  be  stated  in  a  public  speech  ?  Will 
it  not  be  charged  as  exposing  the  nakedness  of  the  land  ? 

Sedition  Act: — The  idea  contained  in  the  last  paragraph  had 


(58  WHITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1801. 

struck  me ;  but  to  suggest  its  propriety  to  the  Legislature  ap 
pears  doubtful.  Are  we  sure  of  a  Senatorial  majority  originally 
opposed  to  that  law  ?  Quere,  as  to  Foster. 

Juries: — A  recommendation  for  a  law  providing  an  impartial 
and  uniform  mode  of  summoning  juries,  and  taking  the  power 
from  the  marshals  and  clerks, — from  the  Judiciary  and  Execu 
tive, — would,  if  according  with  the  sentiments  of  the  Executive, 
come  with  propriety  from  him. 

Progress  of  opinion,  &c.: — Is  it  perfectly  right  to  touch  on 
that  subject?  It  appears  to  me  more  objectionable  than  the 
doubtful  paragraph  relative  to  compensation  to  sufferers  under 
Sedition  Act. 

There  is  but  one  subject  not  mentioned  in  the  message  which 
I  feel  extremely  anxious  to  see  recommended.  It  is,  generally, 
that  Congress  should  adopt  such  measures  as  will  effectually 
guard  against  misapplication  of  public  moneys;  by  making  spe 
cific  appropriations  whenever  practicable  ;  by  providing  against 
the  application  of  moneys  drawn  from  the  Treasury  under  an 
appropriation  to  any  other  object  or  to  any  greater  amount  than 
that  for  which  they  have  been  drawn  ;  by  limiting  discretionary 
powers  in  the  application  of  that  money,  whether  by  heads  of 
Department  or  by  any  other  agents;  and  by  rendering  every 
person  who  receives  public  moneys  from  the  Treasury  as  imme 
diately,  promptly,  and  effectually  accountable  to  the  accounting 
officer  (the  Comptroller)  as  practicable.  The  great  characteristic, 
the  flagrant  vice,  of  the  late  Administration  has  been  total  dis 
regard  of  laws,  and  application  of  public  moneys  by  the  Depart 
ments  to  objects  for  which  they  were  not  appropriated.  Witness 
Pickering's  account;  but  if  you  will  see  a  palpable  proof  and  an 
evidence  of  the  necessity  of  a  remedy,  see  the  Quartermaster- 

•    General's  account  for  five  hundred  thousand  dollars  in  the  office 

\q_f  the  accountant  of  the  War  Department. 


1801.  LETTEES,   ETC. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

[Received]  16th  November,  1801. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  some  hasty  remarks  on  the  message. 

The  incorrectness  of  the  documents  of  exports  of  foreign 
articles  compels  me,  after  much  labor,  to  abandon  the  plan  on 
which  I  had  intended  to  calculate  the  impost,  and,  as  the  next 
best,  I  will  prepare  one  in  the  following  form,  which  rests  on 
documents  on  which  we  may  depend,  being  those  of  duties  and 
drawbacks  actually  paid.  For  each  of  the  ten  years  ending  31st 
December,  1800,  I  will  take  the  quantity  of  each  article  paying 
specific  duties,  and  the  value  of  each  class  of  articles  paying 
distinct  duties  ad  valorem,  on  which  duties  were  secured,  deduct 
from  each  respective  article  and  class  the  quantity  and  value 
respectively  on  which  drawbacks  have  been  allowed,  and  take 
the  difference  for  the  quantity  and  value  of  each  article  con 
sumed  in  the  United  States.  On  each  of  those  articles  I  will 
calculate  the  duties  at  the  rate  now  established  by  law.  The 
result  will  give  you  the  revenue  which  would  have  been  collected 
each  year  on  each  article  had  the  duties  been  the  same  as  at 
present,  and  the  total  divided  by  ten  will  show  the  average 
revenue  of  the  ten  years  1791-1800,  at  the  present  rate  of 
duties,  and  adding  to  this  thirty-three  and  one-third  per  cent.,  the 
rate  of  increase  of  population  in  ten  years  as  given  by  the  census, 
the  result  will  be  assumed  as  the  probable  average  revenue  of 
the  ten  succeeding  years  1801-1810,  or  1802-1809,  these  being 
the  eight  years  to  which  it  is  eligible  that  the  calculations  should 
apply.  This  will  be  but  a  rough  estimate,  and  yet  I  cannot 
perceive  any  way,  from  our  documents,  to  render  it  more  correct, 
unless  it  be  to  subtract,  from  the  total  amount  assumed  as  the 
consumption  of  the  ten  years  1791-1800,  that  part  of  the  im 
portations  of  1800  not  re-exported  in  the  same  year,  which  will, 
at  first  view,  appear  to  be  above  the  roughly  estimated  consump 
tion  of  that  year. 

The  great  defect  of  that  mode  arises  from  its  including  the 
duties  on  exported  articles,  which,  although  not  entitled  to  draw 
back,  made  no  part  of  our  consumption,  and  these  might  have 


70  BETTINGS  OF  GALLATIN.  isoi. 

been  deducted  had  the  returns  of  actual  foreign  exports  been 
correct  and  properly  distinguished.  A  deduction  at  random 
might  be  made,  but  then  it  would  be  as  well  to  guess  at  the 
whole.  Does  any  idea  strike  you  which  might  lead  to  $,  better 
mode  of  making  the  calculation  ?  Unless  we  have  something 
precise,  we  nev££  can  with  safety  recommend  a  repeal  of  existing 
taxes. 

Although  I  could  not  solve  it,  I  thought  that  the  problem  of 
the  annuity  necessary  to  redeem  the  debt  might  be  solved,  be 
cause,  although  there  were  two  unknown  data,  viz.,  the  annuity 
and  the  time  of  redemption  of  one  of  the  classes  of  debt  (the 
time  of  the  other  class  being  8  —  £),  yet  two  equations  might  be 
formed,  one  term  of  each  of  which  being  the  annuity,  left  an 
equation,  with  only  the  time  not  given.  At  all  events,  the  ap 
proximation  you  have  assumed  is  not  sufficiently  correct,  for  the 
annuity  you  fixed  would,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  leave  about  one 
million  and  half  unpaid  at  the  end  of  the  eight  years. 

But  the  problem  is,  in  fact,  more  complex  than  I  had  stated 
it,  on  account  of  the  varieties  and  peculiar  properties  of  the 
several  kinds  of  debt,  as  you  will  judge  by  the  enclosed  state 
ment. 

If  we  cannot  with  the  probable  amount  of  impost  and  sale  of 
lands  pay  the  debt  at  the  rate  proposed  and  support  the  estab 
lishments  on  the  proposed  plans,  one  of  three  things  must  be 
done :  either  to  continue  the  internal  taxes,  or  to  reduce  the  ex 
penditure  still  more,  or  to  discharge  the  debt  with  less  rapidity. 
The  last  recourse,  to  me,  is  the  most  objectionable,  not  only  be 
cause  I  am  firmly  of  opinion  that,  if  the  present  Administration 
and  Congress  do  not  take  the  most  effective  measures  for  that 
object,  the  debt  will  be  entailed  on  us  and  the  ensuing  genera 
tions,  together  with  all  the  systems  which  support  it,  and  which 
it  supports;  but  also  any  sinking  fund  operating  in  an  increased 
ratio  as  it  progresses,  a  very  small  deduction  from  an  appropri 
ation  for  that  object  would  make  a  considerable  difference  in  the 
ultimate  term  of  redemption,  which,  provided  we  can,  in  some 
shape,  manage  the  three  per  cents,  without  redeeming  them  at 
their  nominal  value,  I  think  may  be  paid  at  fourteen  or  fifteen 
years. 


1801.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  71 

On  the  other  hand,  if  this  Administration  shall  not  reduce 
taxes,  they  never  will  be  permanently  reduced.  To  strike  at 
the  root  of  tii?  evil  and  avert  the  danger  of  increasing  taxes, 
encroaching  government,  temptations  to  offensive  wars,  &c., 
nothing  can  be  more  effectual  than  a  repeal  of  all  internal  taxes, 
but  let  them  all  go,  and  not  one  remain  on  which  sister  taxes  may 
be  hereafter  engrafted.  I  agree  most  fully  with  you  that  pre 
tended  tax-preparations,  treasury-preparations,  and  army-prepa 
rations  against  contingent  wars  tend  only  to  encourage  wars. 
If  the  United  States  shall  unavoidably  be  drawn  into  a  war,  the 
people  will  submit  to  any  necessary  tax,  and  the  system  of  inter 
nal  taxation  which,  then,  shall  be  thought  best  adapted  to  the 
then  situation  of  the  country  may  be  created,  instead  of  engrafted 
on  the  old  or  present  plan ;  if  there  shall  be  no  real  necessity 
for  them,  their  abolitioi^by  this  Administration  will  most  power 
fully  deter  any  other  from  reviving  them.  "  A  repeal  now  will 
attach  as  much  unpopularity  to  them  as  the  late  direct  tax  has 
done  to  that  mode  of  taxation.  On  those  grounds,  can  I  ask 
what,  in  your  opinion,  is  the  minimum  of  necessary  naval  and 
foreign  intercourse  expenses,  including  in  these  last  all  those 
which  are  under  the  control  of  the  Department  of  State  ? 

You  will  perceive  in  one  of  the  notes  on  the  message  that  in 
giving  general  results  no  provision  appears  for  the  British  treaty, 
viz.,  for  the  £600,000  proposed  to  be  paid  in  lieu  of  the  6  Art. 
This  is  a  temporary  demand,  which  may  be  met  by  the  four  fol 
lowing  temporary  resources :  1st,  the  excess  of  specie  in  Treas 
ury  beyond  the  necessary  sum  to  be  kept  there ;  2d,  the  sale  of 
the  bank  shares  belonging  to  the  United  States ;  3d,  the  surplus 
revenue  arising  from  internal  taxes  beyond  the  expenses,  in  case 
those  internal  taxes  are  continued,  and,  if  practicable  to  discon 
tinue  them,  one  net  year  of  their  proceeds  which  is  always  due 
on  them,  and  will  be  due  on  the  day  when  they  may  cease ;  4th, 
the  balance  of  the  direct  tax  due  payable  after  the  present  year. 

You  will  also  see  that  I  lay  less  stress  on  savings  on  the  civil 
list  than  you  do.  Some  may  be  made,  but  the  total  amount 
cannot  be  great.  The  new  judiciary,  the  commissioners  of  loans, 
the  mint,  the  accountants  of  the  Navy  and  War  Departments, 
seem  to  be  the  principal,  if  not  the  only,  objects  of  reformr'  Of 


72  WRITINGS    OP    GALLATIST.  1801. 

the  clerks  I  cannot  yet  say  much:  those  of  the  Comptroller  and 
Auditor  are  less  numerous  and  paid  less  in  proportion  than  those 
of  the  Register  and  two  accountants.  Transcribing  and  common 
ones  are  easily  obtained ;  good  book-keepers  are  also  everywhere 
to  be  found :  it  is  difficult  to  obtain  faithful  examining  clerks, 
on  whose  correctness  and  fidelity  a  just  settlement  of  all  the  ac 
counts  depends,  and  still  more  difficult  to  find  men  of  talent.  My 
best  clerk  next  to  the  principal,  and  who  had  twelve  hundred 
dollars,  has  left  me  to  take  one  thousand  in  Philadelphia.  Under 
the  present  circumstances  of  this  place,  we  must  calculate  on 
paying  higher  all  the  inferior  officers,  principally  clerks,  than  in 
Philadelphia.  Coming  all  new  in  the  Administration,  the  heads 
of  Departments  must  obtain  a  perfect  knowledge  of  all  the  details 
before  they  can  venture  on  a  reform.  The  number  of  independ 
ent  officers  attached  to  the  Treasury  renders  the  task  still  more 
arduous  for  me.  I  assure  you  that  it  will  take  me  twelve  months 
before  I  can  thoroughly  understand  every  detail  of  all  those 
several  offices.  Current  business  and  the  more  general  and  im 
portant  duties  of  the  office  do  not  permit  to  learn  the  lesser  details 
but  incidentally  and  by  degrees.  Until  I  know  them  all  I  dare 
not  touch  the  machine. 

The  most  important  reform  I  can  suggest  is  that  of  specific 
appropriations,  to  which  it  would  be  desirable  to  add,  by  abol 
ishing  the  accountants,  an  immediate  payment  from  the  Treasury 
to  the  individuals  who  are  to  apply  the  money,  and  an  immedi 
ate  accounting  of  those  individuals  to  the  Treasury ;  in  short,  to 
place  the  War  and  Navy  Departments  in  relation  to  the  expendi 
tures  of  money  on  the  same  footing  on  which,  at  Mr.  Madison's 
request,  that  of  State  has  been  placed.  Enclosed  is  a  short  paper 
containing  the  principles  I  would  propose,  in  which  you  will 
perceive  that  the  discretionary  powers  of  those  Departments  are 
intended  to  be  checked  by  legal  provisions,  and  not  by  trans 
ferring  any  discretion  to  another  Department.  What  is  called 
"illustration"  on  that  paper  is  not  correct. 

The  disappointment  in  the  export  document  will  necessarily 
delay  some  days  the  proposed  result  of  import;  but  I  think 
it  will  be  about  nine  million  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
dollars. 


1801.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  73 

The  importance  of  correctness  there  renders  it  more  eligible 
to  wait  a  week  longer  for  'a  more  accurate  estimate  than  to  pro 
ceed  now  with  what  we  have  obtained.  We  have  yet  three 
weeks  till  the  meeting  of  Congress.  With  sincere  respect. 

[Enclosure.] 

OUTLINES   FOR   SPECIFIC   APPROPRIATIONS. 

November,  1801. 

1.  Specific  appropriations  for  each  object  of  a  distinct  nature, 
and  one  to  embrace  for  each  Department  all  contingencies,  in 
cluding  therein  every  discretionary  expenditure. 

2.  Each  appropriation  to  refer  to  a  calendar  year,  and  the 
surplus  remaining  unexpended  after  having  satisfied  the  demands 
on  the  appropriation  for  that  year  to  be  carried  to  the  surplus 
fund ;   that  is  to  say,  to  cease. 

3.  Warrants  to  issue  on  the  requisition  of  the  proper  De 
partment  in  favor  of  the  person  receiving  the  same,  instead  of 
issuing  in  the  names  of  either  the  heads  of  Department  or  of  the 
Treasurer  of  the  United  States. 

4.  The  accountants  to  be  abolished. 

5.  The  head  of  each  Department  to  judge,  previous  to  a  settle 
ment  of  accounts,  of  the  propriety  of  making  advances,  and  to 
make  requisitions  accordingly. 

6.  The  head  of  each  Department  to  judge  on  a  settlement 
of  accounts  of  the  propriety  of  making  allowances  of  a  discre 
tionary  nature  in  every  case  where  discretion  is  not  limited  by 
law  or  uniform  usage;  in  these  last  cases  the  Comptroller  to 
judge. 

Illustration. —  War  Department. 

Appropriations  for  the  array  for  the  year  1801  were,  including  fortifications 
and  fabrication  of  arms,  §1,857,242.04. 

Which  would  be  on  above  plan  as  followeth  : 
Pay  of  army,  sub-  "j 

sistence  and  forage  V      $488,076.00;  to  be  paid  by  warrants  to  paymaster. 

of  officers,  ) 

Subsistence,  306,395.00  do.  contractors. 

Clothing,  141,530.00  do.    purveyor  or  contractors. 

Ordnance,  100,000.00  do.  superintendents. 


WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN. 


180?. 


Horses  for  cavalry. 

Bounties  and  premi 
ums;  Indian,  med 
ical,  hospital,  and 
quartermaster 's  de 
partments  ;  defen 
sive  protection  of 
frontiers,  and  con 
tingent  expenses  of 
the  Department, 


$364,000.00 


Purchase  of  ammu-  ~| 
nition  and  fabrica-  f 
tion  of  arms,             ) 
Fortification  of  ports, 

400,000.00 
57,241.04 

11,857,242.04 


to  be  paid  by  warrants  to  agents, 
quartermaster,  purveyor,  paymaster, 
&c. 


to  be  paid  by  warrants  to  contractors, 
purveyor,  superintendent,  &c. 
to  be  paid  by  warrants. 


on  requisition  of  Secretary  of  War  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

November  28,  1801. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

Your  own  opinion  and  that  of  the  Attorney-General  are 
sufficient  authorities  to  me  to  approve  of  prosecuting  in  the 
case  of  the  schooner  Sally.  And  I  will  candidly  add  that  my 
judgment  also  concurs.  The  handcuffs  and  bolts  are  palpable 
testimonials  of  the  intention  of  the  voyage,  and  the  concealment 
of  them  and  their  omission  in  the  statement  of  the  cargo, 
strengthens  the  proof.  The  traffic,  too,  is  so  odious  that  no 
indulgences  can  be  claimed. 


GALLATIN   TO   JOSEPH   H.   NICHOLSON,  M.C. 

A  MEMORANDUM. 

January  19,  1802. 

DEAR  Sra, — The  objects  of  inquiry  for  your  committee  are : 
1st.  How  are  moneys  drawn  out  of  the  Treasury  ? 
2d.  How  are  they  expended  ? 


1802.  LETTERS,    ETC.  75 

3d.  How  are  they  accounted  for? 

In  relation  to  each  object : 

1st.   What  are  the  checks  provided  by  law  ? 

2d.  How  have  these  been  adhered  to  ? 

3d.  Are  they  sufficient  to  enforce  economy  and  accounta 
bility  ? 

4th.  What  improvements  can  be  adopted  ? 

You  may  write  me  a  letter  asking  generally  information  on 
those  subjects,  or  if  you  prefer  a  less  methodical  arrangement 
and  to  put  more  pointed  queries,  I  have  written  some  on  the 
next  page,  which,  I  believe,  embrace  all  those  objects. 

Yours. 

Under  what  checks,  founded  either  on  law  or  usage,  are 
moneys  paid  out  of  the  Treasury  ? 

To  whom  are  those  moneys  paid  ? 

Under  whose  control,  and  what  checks,  are  moneys  drawn  out 
of  the  Treasury  expended  by  the  agents  or  Departments  to  whom 
the  same  may  have  been  advanced  ? 

What  construction  has  been  put  on  the  appropriation  laws 
by  the  Treasury  Department,  and  by  the  several  agents  or 
Departments  to  whom  moneys  are  advanced  ? 

Have  moneys  been  always  paid  by  the  Treasury  and  applied 
by  the  agents  or  Departments  in  conformity  to  the  laws  author 
izing  expenses  and  making  appropriations  for  the  same? 

To  whom  and  in  what  manner  are  the  receivers  of  public 
moneys  accountable  ? 

In  what  situation  are  now  the  accounts  of  persons  who  have 
received  moneys  from  the  Treasury?  and  where  any  remain 
unsettled,  what  are  the  causes  ? 

What  is  particularly  the  situation  of  accounts  for  moneys 
advanced  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  or  to  the  War  and  Navy 
Departments  ? 

Are  the  checks  under  which  public  moneys  are  expended 
sufficient  to  enforce  a  due  application  to  the  objects  for  which 
they  are  advanced  ? 

Can  any  mode  be  devised  by  which  more  efficient  checks,  in 
relation  to  the  public  expenditure,  shall  be  adopted,  and  the 


76  WKITINGS    OP    GALLATIN.  1802. 

accountability  of  those  who  receive  moneys  from  the  Treasury 
be  better  enforced,  without  embarrassing  the  public  service?1 


GALLATIN   TO   WILLIAM   B.   GILES,  M.C.2 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  13th  February,  1802. 

SIR, — I  have  examined  in  consequence  of  our  conversation 
the  articles  of  compact  which  make  part  of  our  territorial  ordi 
nance.  The  more  I  have  reflected  on  the  subject,  the  more  forci 
bly  have  I  been  impressed  with  the  importance  of  making  some 
actual  provision  which  may  secure  to  the  United  States  the  pro 
ceeds  of  the  sales  of  the  Western  lands,  so  far  at  least  as  the  same 
may  be  necessary  to  discharge  the  public  debt,  for  which  they  are 
solemnly  pledged. 

That  part  of  the  system  of  taxation  adopted  in  the  North-West 
Territory  which  relates  to  non-resident  owners,  undoubtedly 
affects  the  value  of  the  public  lands,  and  will  eventually  dimin 
ish  the  amount  of  sales.  Yet,  upon  due  consideration,  there  is 
but  one  provision  which,  in  my  opinion,  would  be  inconsistent 
with  the  rights  of  the  United  States,  as  secured  by  the  articles 
of  compact.  An  attempt  on  the  part  of  the  Legislature  of  the 
Territory  or  new  State  to  render  lands  sold  under  the  laws  of 
Congress,  but  for  which  no  patent  has  yet  issued,  liable  to  be 
sold  for  non-payment  of  taxes,  would  interfere  with  the  regula 
tions  adopted  by  Congress  for  the  "  primary  disposal  of  the  soil  •" 
since,  by  these,  the  lands  remained  mortgaged  to  the  United 
States  until  after  complete  payment  of  the  purchase-money,  and 
in  case  of  failure  thereof  are  directed  to  be  sold. 

But  it  does  not  appear  to  me  that  the  United  States  have  a 
right  to  annex  new  conditions,  not  implied  in  the  articles  of  com 
pact,  limiting  the  legislative  right  of  taxation  of  the  Territory  or 

1  The  replies  made  by  Mr.  Gallatin  to  these  queries  will  be  found  in  the 
American  State  Papers,  vol.  vii.  (Finance,  vol.  i.)  pp.  755-757. 

2  Chairman  of  the  committee  for  admitting  the  North- Western  Territory 
into  the  Union.     This  letter  is  endorsed,  in  Mr.  Gallatin's  hand,  "Origin 
of  National  Koad." 


1802.  LETTERS,    ETC.  77 

new  State.  The  limitations  which  they  may  rightfully  impose 
are  designated  by  the  articles  themselves,  and  these  being  un 
alterable,  unless  by  common  consent,  all  legislative  powers  which 
of  right  pertain  to  an  independent  State  must  be  exercised  at 
the  discretion  of  the  Legislature  of  the  new  State,  unless  limited 
by  articles,  or  by  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  or  of  the 
new  State. 

Indeed,  the  United  States  have  no  greater  right  to  annex  new 
limitations  than  the  individual  State  may  have  to  infringe  those 
of  the  original  compact.  And  I  cannot  see  that  this  position 
can  in  any  degree  be  altered  by  the  circumstance  of  admitting 
into  the  Union,  in  pursuance  of  the  express  provision  of  the 
articles,  a  State  on  an  earlier  day  than  that  on  which  it  must 
necessarily  be  admitted.  The  conditions  inserted  in  the  4th 
article  of  compact  in  relation  to  that  object,  and  which  constitute 
all  that  Congress  thought,  at  the  time,  necessary  to  reserve  in 
order  to  secure  to  the  Union  their  right  to  the  soil,  are :  1st, 
that  the  Legislatures  of  the  districts  or  new  States  shall  never 
interfere  with  the  primary  disposal  of  the  soil  by  Congress ;  nor 
with  any  regulations  which  Congress  may  find  necessary  for 
securing  the  title  in  such  soil  to  the  bona  fide  purchasers;  2d, 
that  no  tax  shall  be  imposed  on  the  property  of  the  United 
States ;  and,  3d,  that  in  no  case  shall  non-resident  proprietors  be 
taxed  higher  than  residents.  Farther  than  that  Congress  can 
not  demand,  and  it  is  on  account  of  the  second  provision  that 
the  district  State  Legislature  has  not  a  right  to  tax,  or  at  least 
to  sell  for  non-payment  of  taxes,  the  lands  on  which,  although 
sold,  the  United  States  still  retain  a  lien. 

It  follows  that  if  it  be  in  a  high  degree,  as  I  believe  it  is, 
the  interest  of  the  United  States  to  obtain  some  further  security 
against  an  injurious  sale,  under  the  Territorial  or  State  laws,  of 
lands  sold  by  them  to  individuals,  justice  not  less  than  policy 
requires  that  it  should  be  obtained  by  common  consent;  and  as 
it  is  not  to  be  expected  that  the  new  State  Legislature  shall  assent 
to  any  alteration  in  their  system  of  taxation  which  may  affect 
the  revenue  of  the  State,  unless  an  equivalent  is  offered  which 
it  may  be  their  interest  to  accept,  I  would  submit  the  propriety 
of  inserting  in  the  Act  of  admission  a  clause  or  clauses  to  that 


78  WHITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

effect,  leaving  it  altogether  optional  in  the  State  Convention  or 
Legislature  to  accept  or  reject  the  same. 

The  equivalent  to  be  offered  must  be  such  as  shall  not  affect 
the  value  of  the  pledge  which  the  public  creditors  now  have  by 
the  appropriation  of  the  lands,  and  as  shall  be  fully  acceptable 
to  the  State,  and  at  the  same  time  prove  generally  beneficial, 
either  in  a  political  or  commercial  view,  to  the  Union  at  large. 
And  it  appears  to  me  that  the  following  provision  would  fully 
answer  those  several  objects,  viz. :  that,  provided  that  the  Con 
vention  or  Legislature  of  the  State  shall  assent  that  each  and 
every  tract  of  land  sold  by  Congress  shall  be  exempt  from  any 
tax  raised  by  or  under  the  authority  of  the  State,  whether  for 
State,  county,  or  township,  or  any  other  purpose,  for  the  term  of 
ten  years  from  and  after  the  completion  of  the  payment  of  the 
purchase-money  on  such  tract  to  the  United  States ; 

The  United  States  shall  on  their  part  agree : 

1st.  That  the  section  No.  16  in  every  township  sold  or  directed 
to  be  sold  by  the  United  States,  shall  be  granted  to  the  inhab 
itants  of  such  township  for  the  use  of  schools. 

2d.  That  the  six  miles  reservation,  including  the  Salt  Springs, 
commonly  called  the  Scioto  Salt  Springs,  shall  be  granted  to  the 
new  State  in  trust  for  the  people  thereof,  the  same  to  be  used 
under  such  regulations,  terms,  and  conditions  as  the  Legislature 
of  the  said  State  shall  direct,  provided  that  the  said  Legislature 
shall  never  sell  nor  lease  the  same  for  a  longer  term  than 
years. 

3d.  That  one-tenth  part  of  the  net  proceeds  of  the  lands 
hereafter  sold  by  Congress  shall,  after  deducting  all  expenses 
incident  to  the  same,  be  applied  towards  laying  out  and  making 
turnpike  or  other  roads,  first  from  the  navigable  waters  empty 
ing  into  the  Atlantic  to  the  Ohio,  and  afterwards  continued 
through  the  new  State ;  such  roads  to  be  laid  out  under  the 
authority  of  Congress,  with  the  consent  of  the  several  States 
through  which  the  same  shall  pass.  That  such  conditions  in 
stead  of  diminishing  would  greatly  increase  the  value  of  the 
lands  and  of  the  pledge  to  the  public  creditors,  and  that  they 
would  be  highly  beneficial  and  acceptable  to  the  people  of  the 
new  State,  cannot  be  doubted.  And  they  are  particularly  recom- 


1802.  LETTERS,    ETC.  79 

mended  as  among  the   most  eligible  which   may  be  suggested, 
from  the  following  considerations : 

The  provision  for  schools,  exclusively  of  its  intrinsic  useful 
ness,  made  a  part  of  the  former  ordinance  of  Congress  for  the 
sale  of  lands ;  the  grant  has  actually  been  made  in  the  sales  to 
the  Ohio  Company  and  to  J.  C.  Symmes:  and  although  the 
ordinance  be  no  longer  in  force,  and  such  a  grant  be  no  part  of 
the  articles  of  compact,  yet  it  has  always  been  at  least  hoped 
by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Territory  that  it  would  be  generally 
extended. 

The  grant  of  the  Scioto  Salt  Springs  will  at  present  be  con 
sidered  as  the  most  valuable,  and  alone  would,  most  probably, 
induce  a  compliance  on  the  part  of  the  new  State  with  the  con 
dition  proposed  by  Congress.  And  if  it  is  considered  that  at 
least  one-half  of  the  future  population  of  that  district  will  draw 
their  salt  from  that  source,  the  propriety  of  preventing  the 
monopoly  of  that  article  falling  into  the  hands  of  any  private 
individual  can  hardly  be  disputed. 

The  tenth  part  of  the  proceeds  of  the  lands,  as  it  will  be 
co-extensive  with  the  sales,  will  continue  to  be  considered  as 
an  equivalent  until  the  sales  are  completed,  and  after  the  present 
grant  might  have  ceased  to  operate  on  the  minds  of  the  people 
of  the  new  State.  The  roads  will  be  as  beneficial  to  the  parts 
of  the  Atlantic  States  through  which  they  are  to  pass,  and  nearly 
as  much  so  to  a  considerable  portion  of  the  Union,  as  to  the 
North-West  Territory  itself.  But  a  due  attention  to  the  particu 
lar  geographical  situation  of  that  Territory  and  of  the  adjacent 
western  districts  of  the  Atlantic  States,  will  not  fail  to  impress 
you  strongly  with  the  importance  of  that  provision  in  a  political 
point  of  view,  so  far  as  it  will  contribute  towards  cementing  the 
bonds  of  the  Union  between  those  parts  of  the  United  States 
whose  local  interests  have  been  considered  as  most  dissimilar. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 


80  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  or  TREASURY, 
[Received]  June  18,  1802. 

THE  Bank  of  Pennsylvania  applies  for  relief;  they  fall  regu 
larly  one  hundred  thousand  dollars  per  week  in  debt  to  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  on  account,  as  they  say,  of  the 
deposits  on  account  of  government  made  in  the  last.  For  a 
sketch  of  their  situation,  compared  with  that  of  the  Bank  of 
United  States,  see  the  within  paper.  Their  cashier  is  here,  come 
on  purpose  for  assistance.  In  addition  to  the  effect  of  govern 
mental  deposits,  it  is  evident  that  they  have  extended  their 
discounts  too  far. 

They  say  that  these  cannot  at  once  be  curtailed  without  ruin 
ing  their  customers,  who  consist  chiefly  of  retail  shopkeepers. 
Those  for  whom  the  Bank  United  States  discounts  are  generally 
importers.  There  are  but  three  means  of  affording  them  relief: 
1st,  write  to  Bank  United  States  to  spare  them;  2d,  deposit 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars  with  them,  or  direct  collector 
Philadelphia  to  deposit  part  of  his  public  moneys  with  them ; 
3d,  contract  with  them  for  part  of  Dutch  debt,  which,  as  we 
always  pay  considerably  beforehand,  will  have  the  effect  of  a 
deposit. 

I  have  proposed  the  last ;  but  if  we  cannot  agree  on  terms, 
should  either  of  the  two  other  modes  be  adopted  ? 

It  is  proper  to  prevent  the  exclusive  monopoly  in  hands  of 
Bank  United  States,  but  it  is  not  proper  to  displease  them, 
because  they  place  instantly  bur  money  where  we  may  want  it, 
from  one  end  of  the  Union  to  the  other,  which  is  done  on  the 
tacit  condition  of  our  leaving  our  deposits  with  them,  and  be 
cause  if  we  shall  be  hard  run  and  want  money,  to  them  we  must 
apply  for  a  loan.1 

1  See  Mr.  Jefferson's  reply  in  his  Correspondence :  "Writings,  vol.  iv.  p. 
439.  June  19,  1802. 


1802.  LETTERS,   ETC.  81 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  3,  1802. 

********** 
P.S. — What  are  the  subjects  on  which  the  next  session  of 
Congress  is  to  be  employed  ?  It  is  not  too  early  to  think  of  it. 
I  know  but  of  two:  1.  The  militia  law.  2.  The  reformation 
of  the  civil  list  recommended  to  them  at  the  last  meeting,  but 
not  taken  up  through  want  of  time  and  preparation ;  that  prep 
aration  must  be  made  by  us.  An  accurate  statement  of  the 
original  amount  and  subsequent  augmentations  or  diminutions 
of  the  public  debt,  to  be  continued  annually,  is  an  article  on 
which  we  have  conferred  before.  A  similar  statement  of  the 
annual  expenses  of  the  government  for  a  certain  period  back, 
and  to  be  repeated  annually,  is  another  wholesome  necessity  we 
should  impose  on  ourselves  and  our  successors.  Our  court 
calendar  should  be  completed. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  August  9,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  arrived  here  last  week,  and  found  much  busi 
ness  to  do,  but  principally  mere  details,  with  which  I  will  not 
trouble  you. 

A  second  report  has  come  to  hand  in  relation  to  the  Delaware 
piers,  recommending  Reedy  Island  in  lieu  of  Marcus  Hook. 
Finding  three  persons  to  have  been  appointed  by  order  of  the  State 
of  Delaware  superintendents  to  erect  piers  at  New  Castle,  I  wrote 
to  them  for  information  in  relation  to  that  spot ;  and  when  that 
shall  have  been  received  will  forward  the  whole  to  you. 

The  collector  of  Norfolk,  instead  of  sending  the  detailed 
estimate  of  the  repairs  necessary  for  the  hospital,  transmitted 
one  consisting  only  of  four  items,  and  amounting  to  near  eleven 
thousand  dollars.  I  wrote  him  again  for  details;  but  finding 
one  of  the  items  for  six  hundred  dollars  to  be  for  that  wing 
which  is  now  occupied  by  the  seamen,  and  which,  by  the  repre- 
VOL.  i.— 7 


82  "WEITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

sentation  of  the  collector,  and  General  Dearborn's  statement, 
was  so  leaky  that  the  sick  were  shifted  from  place  to  place  when 
ever  it  rained,  I  thought  those  repairs  might  be  immediately 
authorized  without  waiting  for  your  official  approbation,  which  I 
knew,  under  those  circumstances,  would  not  be  refused. 

I  have  written  to  you  two  official  letters,  one  relating  to  the 
appointment  of  a  light-house  keeper,  the  other  enclosing  a  set 
of  regulations  for  the  Mississippi  trade.  These  I  wish  you 
would  be  good  enough  to  examine  as  soon  as  convenient,  and  to 
return  with  your  approbation  or  alterations,  as  I  only  wait  for 
their  return  to  despatch  a  circular,  after  which  I  will  take  an 
excursion  to  the  hills. 

I  enclose  the  recommendation  for  Blade's  Creek,  the  only  one 
which  I  have  received,  and,  for  your  recollection,  enclose  also 
your  letter  to  me  of  the  2d  ult.,  as  it  relates  to  Jasper.  I  think 
Tooly  may  be  appointed.  General  Dearborn  has  written  to  you 
that  Lyman  is  gone  to  Europe,  and  has,  I  suppose,  recommended 
Cross  in  his  place  for  Newburyport,  and  he  has  also,  I  presume, 
written  that  Warren  will  not  accept  Marblehead. 

For  this  last  place  W.  R.  Lee  recommends  Joseph  Wilson ; 
his  letter  I  enclose.  There  are  blank  commissions  left  at  the 
Secretary  of  State's  office  which  will  be  filled  for  both  places  as 
you  may  direct.  I  stopped  just  in  time  the  commissions  for 
Lyman  and  Warren  and  the  Comptroller's  letters  of  dismission 
to  Tyng  and  Gerry.  Smith  had,  however,  published  in  his 
papers  the  intended  appointments;  but  that  will  not  .prevent  the 
dismissed  officers  from  continuing  to  act  till  the  successors  shall 
have  been  appointed.  Crowninshield  writes  from  Salem  that 
Lee  is  an  improper  appointment;  is  that  well  grounded,  or  mere 
clannish  prejudice?  If  the  first,  it  is  really  extremely  wrong  in 
our  friends  to  give  such  erroneous  information,  for  who  could 
be  more  strongly  recommended  than  Lee  ?  But  Crowninshield 
recommends  John  Gibault,  who  to  me,  by  an  old  personal  friend, 
a  clergyman  in  Salem,  had  been  very  strongly  recommended, 
but  on  hearing  the  manner  in  which  Lee  was  spoken  of,  did  not 
even  mention  Gibault's  name.  He  would  have  certainly  been 
better  for  Salem.  C.  now  recommends  him  for  Gloucester  (the 
only  port  in  Essex  left  untouched)  instead  of  Tuck,  whom  he 


1802.  LETTEES,   ETC.  83 

represents  as  worse  than  Tyng.  I  suppose  General  Dearborn 
has  written  all  this,  and  have  mentioned  it  only  in  order  to  say 
that  under  present  information,  and  for  the  purpose  of  pacify 
ing  Salem,  I  would  not  think  it  wrong  to  appoint  Wilson,  Cross, 
and  Gi  ban  It  in  lieu  of  Tyng,  Gerry,  Tuck,  for  Newburyport, 
Marblehead,  Gloucester.  Lee  has  got  his  Salem  commission. 
Had  I  seen  Crowninshield's  letter  I  would  also  have  stopped  it 
(as  Lee  was  willing  to  take  Marblehead),  till  you  had  had  the 
whole  subject  once  more  before  you. 

Appearances  are  stormy  at  New  York ;  the  schism  disgusts 
many  Republicans,  is  fomented  by  the  Federalists.  Wood's 
pamphlet  has  done  and  will  do  no  inconsiderable  injury.  Every 
thing  seems  placid  in  Pennsylvania,  though  the  party  makes  a 
tolerable  ingenious  argument  out  of  M.'s  appointment.  I  ap 
prehend  we  have  lost  some  ground  in  New  Jersey;  it  is  said  we 
have  gained  in  Delaware.  I  doubt  it. 

With  affection  and  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  9,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — We  have  received  information  that  the  Emperor 
of  Morocco,  having  asked,  and  been  refused,  passports  for  two 
vessels  loaded  with  wheat  to  go  to  Tripoli  while  blockaded  by 
us,  has  ordered  away  our  consul.  This  demand  of  his  is  so 
palpably  against  reason  and  the  usage  of  nations  as  to  bespeak 
a  settled  design  of  war  against  us,  or  a  general  determination  to 
make  common  cause  with  any  of  the  Barbary  powers  at  war 
with  us.  I  had  just  written  him  a  friendly  letter,  to  accompany 
one  hundred  gun-carriages  asked  by  him  of  the  former  Admin 
istration  ;  but  the  state  of  things  is  so  changed  that  it  will  not 
be  proper  now  to  send  these.  We  expect  the  Boston  to  return 
shortly :  there  will  then  remain  there  the  Chesapeake,  Constel 
lation,  and  Adams,  of  which  we  had  thought  of  recalling  one, 
as  two  were  deemed  sufficient  for  Tripoli.  It  is  now  a  question 
whether  we  should  not  leave  the  three  there,  and  whether  we 


84  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

should  send  another?  And  a  very  important  question  is,  what 
is  the  nature  of  the  orders  which  should  be  given  to  the  com 
manders  of  our  vessels  in  the  Mediterranean  with  respect  to 
Morocco?  As  circumstances  look  towards  war,  I  have  asked 
the  opinions  of  the  heads  of  Departments  on  the  preceding  ques 
tions,  and  will  beg  the  favor  of  yours  by  return  of  post;  the 
General  Greene  being  probably  detained  to  carry  our  orders,  if 
you  will  take  the  trouble  of  calling  at  the  Navy  Office,  you  can 
see  the  letters  of  Simpson  and  Morris  on  this  occasion.  Accept 
assurances  of  my  affectionate  esteem  and  respect. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  14,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  duly  considered  the  regulations  concern 
ing  the  Mississippi  trade  enclosed  in  your  letter  of  the  7th,  and 
should  have  signed  them  but  that  a  single  fact,  perhaps  unknown 
to  you,  renders  them  impracticable  without  some  alteration. 
Neither  Spain  nor  France  allows  any  foreign  nation  to  keep  a 
consul  in  their  colonies  in  time  of  peace.  In  consequence  of 
this,  our  consul  at  New  Orleans  has  had  his  functions  suspended 
by  the  governor,  and  peremptorily  inhibited  from  the  use  of 
them.  I  think  it  even  doubtful  whether  they  would  permit  us 
to  have  there  even  an  informal  agent  to  exercise  any  public  duty. 
"We  are  endeavoring  by  negotiation  to  have  New  Orleans  con 
sidered  as  so  peculiarly  situated  with  respect  to  us  as  to  require 
an  exemption  from  their  general  rule ;  but  even  if  we  obtain  it, 
time  will  be  requisite,  and  in  the  mean  while  some  other  provision 
should  be  made.  It  would  be  well,  if  possible,  to  make  such  pro 
visions  as  could  be  executed  at  Fort  Adams,  and  render  the 
touching  at  New  Orleans  as  indifferent  as  at  any  other  foreign 
port.  If  this  be  impossible,  we  may  try  the  substitution  of  an 
informal  agent  at  New  Orleans  ;  but  still  some  provision  should 
be  made  for  the  case  of  his  being  disallowed.  When  you  shall 
have  made  the  necessary  alterations  I  shall  be  ready  to  sign 
them. 


1802.  LETTERS,    ETC.  85 

With  respect  to  the  fifth  section,  taking  from  coasting  vessels 
employed  in  this  trade  the  privilege  of  carrying  any  foreign 
articles,  if  yourself  and  Mr.  Steele  concurred  in  this,  I  should 
be  content  with  it;  but  if  you  were  of  a  different  opinion,  I 
should  join  you  on  the  general  principle  of  never  imposing  a 
restriction  which  can  be  done  without. 

The  newspapers  tell  us  Mr.  Clarke  is  returned  to  New  York 
or  Philadelphia;  this  will  delay  Dr.  Bache's  departure  till  we 
can  inform  him  what  he  is  to  do  there.  I  am  in  hopes  Mr. 
Clarke  will  be  able  to  arrange  the  details  of  the  plan  here,  and 
to  give  such  orders  at  New  Orleans  as  will  begin  the  establish 
ment,  and  provide  the  field  for  Dr.  Bache  to  act  on.  Will  you 
be  so  good  as  to  engage  him  to  do  this,  and  to  give  the  necessary 
information  to  Dr.  Bache  ?  We  have  been  unfortunate  in  the 
delays  of  this  institution.  Accept  my  constant  and  affectionate 
esteem. 


JEFFERSON  TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  14,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — In  your  letter  of  the  9th  instant  you  propose  the 
following  arrangement : 

Wilson  vice  Tyng,  Newburyport ;  Cross  vice  Gerry,  Marble- 
head  ;  Gibault  vice  Tuck,  Gloucester. 

Which  I  imagine  should  be  thus : 

Cross  vice  Tyng,  Newburyport;  Wilson  vice  Gerry,  Mar- 
blehead ;  Gibault  vice  Tuck,  Gloucester. 

I  suppose  this,  because  it  is  consonant  with  Lee's  letter  en 
closed  by  you  with  General  Dearborn's  letter,  and  with  what 
I  recollect  of  former  conferences,  wherein  Cross  was  placed 
in  competition  with  Lyman  for  Newburyport.  As  Tyng  and 
Gerry  are  to  go  out,  this  arrangement  is  approved ;  with  respect 
to  Gibault  vice  Tuck,  my  only  hesitation  arises  from  the  propo 
sition  being  new,  and  proceeding  too,  as  far  as  I  see,  from  a 
single  person,  Captain  Crowninshield.  I  have  been  taught  to 
have  great  confidence  in  him,  yet  we  all  know  how  frequent 
it  is  for  the  best  persons  to  be  warped  as  to  personal  character 


86  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATHST.  1802. 

by  views  peculiar  to  themselves,  and  not  agreeing  with  the 
general  opinion.  Of  this  he  furnishes  an  instance  in  his  opinion 
of  Lee,  whose  recommendations  are  from  many  of  the  first  char 
acters  in  Massachusetts,  and  are  so  strong  that  could  they  be 
doubted,  all  confidence  in  any  degree  of  recommendation  must 
be  given  up.  I  think  too  that  General  Dearborn  and  Mr. 
Lincoln  both  concurred  in  considering  Lee  as  entitled  to  our 
first  favors.  Still,  if  General  Dearborn  and  yourself  (for  I 
suppose  Mr.  Smith  not  to  be  with  you)  are  satisfied  that  Tuck 
ought  to  be  removed  on  the  ground  of  active  opposition  to  the 
present  government, — that  is  to  say,  if  the  fact  be  that  he  is 
actively  opposed, — I  approve  of  that  change  also,  and  think  if 
it  is  to  take  place,  it  had  better  be  at  the  same  time  with  the 
others.  AVill  you  be  so  good  as  to  communicate  this  to  General 
Dearborn,  as  I  am  pressed  in  time  by  other  business?  The 
appointment  of  Henry  Tooly  to  be  surveyor  at  Slade's  Creek 
is  approved.  Accept  assurances  of  my  great  esteem  and  "respect. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  16th  August,  1802. 

DEAR  Sm, — I  received  this  morning  your  letter  of  the  9th 
instant  on  the  subject  of  Morocco  and  the  Barbary  powers.  The 
arrangement  of  the  mail  between  this  and  Monticello  is  not 
favorable,  since  this  answer  to  yours  of  the  9th  cannot  leave 
Washington  before  to-inorrow  evening,  17th.  This  I  regret,  as 
time  on  such  occasions  is  precious.  I  will  write  on  the  suppo 
sition  that  you  have  received  the  account  of  the  engagement  of 
the  Boston  with  the  Tunisian  flotilla,  which,  although  we  have 
not  yet  received  any  confirmation,  carries,  unfortunately,  strong 
marks  of  its  being  true. 

Our  object  must  clearly  be  to  put  a  speedy  end  to  a  contest 
which  unavailingly  wastes  our  resources,  and  which  we  cannot, 
for  any  considerable  time,  pursue  with  vigor  without  relinquish 
ing  the  accomplishment  of  the  great  and  beneficial  objects  we 
have  in  view.  The  most  ample  powers  and  orders  if  practicable 


1802.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  87 

to  make  peace,  and  a  sufficient  force  to  protect,  and  at  least 
have  time  to  withdraw,  our  Mediterranean  trade,  appear  to  me 
necessary.  In  respect  to  peace,  taking  it  for  granted  that  the 
instructions  for  Tripoli  are  sufficient,  there  remain  Morocco  and 
Tunis.  However  contrary  to  the  usage  of  civilized  nations  the 
pretensions  of  Morocco  may  be,  we  cannot  decide  whether  they 
are  considered  as  unreasonable  by  a  nation  not  within  the  pale 
of  civilization,  and  the  conduct  of  Morocco  has  certainly  been 
far  from  unfriendly  since  our  treaty  with  that  country. 

That  treaty  has  been  till  now  faithfully  adhered  to  by  the 
Emperor ;  he  has  shown  no  disposition  to  favor  Algiers  during 
our  negotiations  with  that  regency,  and  he  even  evinced  forbear 
ance  during  his  blockade  of  a  rebellious  port. 

Hence  I  am  not  without  hopes  that  he  may  still  be  smoothed, 
and  I  would  at  all  events  send  the  gun-carriages  which  had  been 
promised,  in  order  that  our  negotiator  may  be  able  to  give  them 
if  they  shall  be  useful  in  bringing  on  a  friendly  arrangement ; 
nor  do  I  see  any  objection  to  sending  the  intended  letter,  properly 
modified  to  accord  with  the  present  circumstances. 

And  if  Simpson  can  be  fully  trusted  with  a  negotiation  of  that 
kind,  I  would  also,  out  of  the  general  Mediterranean  appropria 
tion,  send  twenty  or  thirty  thousand  dollars,  which  may  be 
wanted  either  there  or  at  Tunis  to  assist  in  accommodating 
differences.  As  to  Tunis,  I  would  not  hesitate  to  promise  an 
indemnity  if  McNeil  shall  have  been  the  aggressor ;  in  that  sup 
position  it  is  due  in  justice  to  them  as  much  as  it  would  to  any 
other  nation  under  similar  circumstances,  and  to  refuse  it  would 
be  an  inducement  to  Algiers  to  make  a  common  cause,  since  there 
would  be  no  security  to  any  of  the  Barbary  powers,  whilst  we 
had  a  frigate  left  in  the  Mediterranean,  if  we  shall  countenance 
an  interference  of  that  kind. 

As  to  the  force  necessary  there  I  feel  no  hesitation.  The 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  had  consulted  me  before  I  received  your 
letter,  and  I  advised  that  Captain  Morris  should  be  immediately 
instructed  to  retain  the  Boston  in  case  hostilities  should  have 
commenced  either  with  Tunis  or  Morocco,  and  that  the  General 
Greene  should  be  sent  with  her  full  complement  of  men  instead  of 
going  half  manned.  Mr.  Smith  has  since  informed  me  that  that 


88  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

frigate,  which  was  originally  a  merchant  vessel,  being  a  bad 
fighting  vessel,  he  had  substituted  the  New  York  to  her.  That 
change,  of  which  I  am  no  judge,  was,  I  take  for  granted,  neces 
sary;  the  difference  of  expense  between  the  two  vessels  is  at 
the  rate  of  twenty-five  thousand  dollars  a  year. 

If  there  is  war  with  Morocco,  no  less  than  four  frigates  are 
necessary,  viz. :  two  at  Tripoli,  one  at  least  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
gut  to  convoy  our  vessels  in  and  out,  and  one  off  Sallee,  to  pro 
tect  principally  our  Madeira  and  other  island  trade,  if  not  to 
blockade  effectually  that  port.  I  do  not  know  whether  Morocco 
has  any  other  ports  from  which  cruising  vessels  (not  boats)  can 
sail  on  the  Atlantic. 

If  Tunis  is  also  at  war,  five  frigates  will  hardly  be  sufficient, 
as  three  frigates  could  not  keep  in  constant  blockade  the  ports 
of  that  regency  and  Tripoli.  If  we  had  two  small  ships  instead 
of  one  of  our  large  frigates,  they  could,  I  think,  be  more  advan 
tageously  disposed ;  but  we  have  no  option,  and  it  is  clear  that 
we  cannot  do  less  than  to  provide  the  five  frigates  under  present 
circumstances,  which  will  be  effected  if  the  Boston  is  kept  and 
the  New  York  sent ;  but  I  much  apprehend  that  if  we  have  to 
encounter  Tunis,  Tripoli,  and  Morocco,  we  will  be  compelled  to 
give  up  the  Mediterranean  trade  and  be  satisfied  with  defending 
the  gut.  Under  that  impression,  I  sincerely  wish  you  could 
reconcile  it  to  yourself  to  empower  our  negotiators  to  give,  if 
necessary  for  peace,  an  annuity  to  Tripoli.  I  consider  it  no 
greater  disgrace  to  pay  them  than  Algiers.  And  indeed  we  share 
the  dishonor  of  paying  those  barbarians  with  so  many  nations  as 
powerful  and  interested  as  ourselves,  that,  in  our  present  situa 
tion,  I  consider  it  a  mere  matter  of  calculation  whether  the  pur 
chase  of  peace  is  not  cheaper  than  the  expense  of  a  war,  which 
shall  not  even  give  us  the  free  use  of  the  Mediterranean  trade. 

It  is  also  worth  considering,  that  the  capture  of  some  of  our 
merchantmen  would,  at  all  events,  ultimately  compel  us  to  pay 
much  more  for  their  redemption  than  the  value  of  an  annual 
tribute.  Eight  years  hence  we  shall,  I  trust,  be  able  to  assume 
a  different  tone ;  but  our  exertions  at  present  consume  the  seeds 
of  our  greatness  and  retard  to  an  indefinite  time  the  epoch  of  our 
strength. 


1802.  LETTERS,   ETC.  §9 

As  our  present  differences  with  Morocco  have  taken  rise  in 
the  war  with  Tripoli,  it  is  probable  that  peace  with  this  power 
would  terminate  the  hostilities  with  the  Emperor.  Might  not 
that  man's  pride  be  flattered  with  an  intimation  either  that  his 
offices  would  not  be  rejected  if  he  chose  to  act  as  mediator, 
or  that  a  wish  to  preserve  harmony  with  him  contributes  in 
accelerating  our  endeavors  to  make  a  reasonable  peace  with 
Tripoli  ? 

The  application  of  the  force  in  the  Mediterranean  towards 
Tunis  and  Morocco,  in  case  of  hostilities  existing  between  either 
of  those  powers  and  ourselves,  appears  to  me  a  matter  of  course. 

The  Executive  cannot  declare  war,  but  if  war  is  made,  whether 
declared  by  Congress  or  by  the  enemy,  the  conduct  must  be  the 
same,  to  protect  our  vessels,  and  to  fight,  take,  and  destroy  the 
armed  vessels  of  that  enemy.  The  only  case  which  admits  of 
doubt  is  whether,  in  case  of  such  war  actually  existing,  we 
should  confine  our  hostilities  to  their  armed  vessels  or  extend 
them  by  capture  or  blockade  to  the  trade.  The  policy  of  adopt 
ing  either  course  must  depend  on  the  power  we  may  have  to 
injure  that  commerce.  How  far  are  they  commercial  and  liable 
to  be  affected  by  an  attack  upon  that  commerce  ?  Something 
may  also  depend  on  the  personal  disposition  of  the  sovereigns 
of  the  twro  countries.  If  there  is  hope  of  peace  by  a  concili 
ating  conduct,  perhaps  it  might  be  better,  whilst  we  offer  it, 
to  show  our  favorable  disposition  by  only  doing  what  is  strictly 
self-defence,  fighting  their  cruisers.  I  presume  that  in  that 
particular  respect  some  discretion  must  be  left  to  our  command 
ing  officer. 

Whatever  shall  be  done,  I  think  that  no  delay  ought  to  take 
place.  The  New  York  will,  it  is  said,  be  ready  to  sail  in  ten 
days,  say  a  fortnight.  She  should  not  be  detained,  and  the 
instructions  should  be  sent  by  her. 

I  do  not  know  that  anything  else  occurs  to  my  mind.  You 
will,  I  hope,  excuse  the  incorrectness  of  these  hastily-digested 
ideas.  I  have  only  to  add  that  our  Mediterranean  appropriation 
is  on  account  of  the  twenty-four  thousand  dollars  sent  by  the 
Adams  to  Cathcart,  and  of  the  heavy  drafts  made  by  Eaton, 
reduced  to  forty-four  thousand  dollars.  The  thirty  thousand 


90  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

dollars  destined  for  Algiers  will  be  taken  from  another  appro 
priation  made  especially  for  that  object. 

The  naval  appropriations  will  be  sufficient  to  fit  the  New 
York,  but  we  will  be  embarrassed  if  the  Boston  shall  return 
before  the  meeting  of  Congress.  That  is,  I  believe,  owing  to 
miscalculation  in  the  estimate  of  repairs,  which,  especially  for 
the  Constitution,  have  cost  much  more  than  had  been  estimated. 

I  remain,  with  attachment  and  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 

I  had  forgotten  to  say  that  Mr.  Smith  suggested  the  idea 
of  joining  Morris  to  Cathcart  for  the  negotiation  writh  Tripoli. 
That  would  have  been  desirable,  in  order  to  provide  against 
accidents;  and  in  the  instructions  which  may  be  sent  to  treat  with 
Morocco,  and  conditionally  with  Tunis,  it  would  not  be  amiss 
that  two  persons  should  be  named,  either  of  whom  might  act. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  August  20,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  14th  inst.,  in 
which  you  justly  correct  my  transposition  of  Newburyport  and 
Marblehead.  General  Dearborn  approves  of  Tuck's  removal, 
but  as  there  is  no  inconvenience  in  waiting  a  week  longer,  and 
we  have  been  rather  unfortunate  in  selecting  individuals  who 
could  not  or  would  not  accept,  I  have  concluded  to  wait  for  your 
answer  to  this  letter  before  I  -would  send  any  of  the  three  com 
missions  to  those  Essex  ports.  I  have  made  a  report  in  the  case 
of  Head;  if  you  approve,  a  commission  will  be  filled  with  the 
name  of  such  person  as  General  Dearborn  will  recommend,  it 
being  in  his  own  vicinity,  and  all  those  commissions  may  then 
go  together.  There  is  another  case  which  does  not  admit  of 
delay :  it  is  the  collectorship  of  Petersburg.  Heath  has  received 
his  letter  of  dismission,  and,  Mr.  Page  not  accepting,  we  have 
no  collector  ;  nor  is  it  very  clear  how  far  the  surveyor,  of  whom 
I  know  nothing,  can  act  if  Heath  has  ceased  his  functions. 

Since  my  last  you  will  have  heard  that  Morocco  has  declared 


1802.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  91 

war.  By  the  letters  which  Robert  Smith  has  shown  me,  it  ap 
pears  that  their  force  consists,  first  and  principally,  of  row-boats, 
which,  I  understand,  never  go  out  of  sight  of  the  coast;  secondly, 
of  half-galleys  at  Tetuan,  which,  as  well  as  Tangier,  is  within  the 
straits;  thirdly,  of  frigates  at  Rhabat,  the  modern  name  of  Sallee, 
and  on  the  Atlantic.  This  seems  to  require  three  frigates,  one 
to  convoy  our  vessels  through  the  gut,  by  alternately  sailing 
from  Cadiz  to  Malaga,  which  will  be  sufficient  protection  against 
the  boats ;  one  to  blockade  Tetuan,  without  which  the  half-gal 
leys  will  sail  through  the  Mediterranean  beyond  Malaga;  and  a 
third  to  block  up  Rhabat  alias  Sallee.  I  do  not  know  that  the 
Moors  have  any  other  ports  on  the  Mediterranean  but  Tangier 
and  Tetuau ;  but  I  am  confident  that  they  have  some  others 
on  the  Atlantic,  perhaps  none  north,  but  at  least  one  south,  of 
Sallee,  the  same  which  the  Emperor  kept  blockaded,  but  the 
name  of  which  I  forget  (Magadura,  I  believe).  I  mention  this 
to  show  the  necessity  of  peace ;  we  never  had  calculated  on  a 
war  with  Morocco,  which  affects  not  only  our  Mediterranean, 
but  also  our  Madeira  and  Atlantic  trade. 

If  Tunis  has  made  war,  our  situation  will  be  still  worse; 
yet,  as  they  are  a  commercial  people,  there  is  less  danger.  On 
reading  the  Morocco  treaty,  I  find  that  captives  are  not  to  be 
treated  as  slaves,  that  an  exchange  is  provided  for,  and  that  the 
balance  is  to  be  paid  by  the  losing  party  at  one  hundred  dollars 
per  head ;  the  whole  is  arranged  like  the  rules  by  which  game 
sters  agree  to  play ;  and  it  is  presumed  that  the  Emperor  wants 
money. 

This,  however,  must  be  attended  to  in  the  instructions  to  our 
officers  ;  we  must  try  to  make  prisoners ;  if  we  win,  his  Majesty 
may  be  disposed  to  cease  playing.  If  you  attend  to  the  latter 
part  of  the  3d  Article  of  the  same  treaty,  you  will,"  I  think,  find 
the  reason  which  he  may  allege  in  support  of  his  pretensions. 
Yet  the  doctrine  of  blockade  (which  is  not  made  an  exception 
in  that  treaty  to  the  general  rule  laid  down  in  the  3d  Article)  is 
not  unknown  to  the  Emperor,  since  he  has  practised  upon  it ; 
perhaps,  however,  their  understanding  was  only  that  no  foreign 
nation  had  a  right  to  assist  rebels.  I  can  add  nothing  but  to 
repeat  my  wishes  for  peace,  and  express  my  anxiety  that  no 


92  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

delay  may  take  place  in  the  measures  adopted  at  the  present 
moment.  Had  the  instructions  to  Cathcart  arrived  before  Mo 
rocco  had  declared  war,  we  should  be  at  present  at  peace  with 
both. 

With  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

I  wish  much  to  be  out  of  this  city  at  this  time,  but  will  wait 
until  the  result  of  your  determination  in  that  business  is  ascer 
tained. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  20,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  favors  of  the  16th  and  17th  were  received 
the  last  night ;  the  contents  of  the  latter  shall  now  be  distinctly 
noted. 

Commissioner  of  bankruptcy  at  Poughkeepsie.  I  have  pro 
posed  a  general  arrangement  to  the  Secretary  of  State  which 
may  save  the  necessity  of  appointments  over  the  whole  face  of 
every  State,  ninety-nine  out  of  one  hundred  of  which  would 
never  be  called  on  to  act,  and  would  yet  give  opportunities  of 
indulging  favoritism  by  enlarging  the  field  of  selection.  The 
answer  not  yet  received. 

Mr.  Nourse's  certificate  retained  for  investigation. 

The  successor  to  Claud  Thomson,  collector  of  Brunswick, 
Georgia.  I  will  sign  the  commission  when  received  from  you ; 
the  papers  are  returned. 

Letters  respecting  unauthorized  advances  by  our  consuls 
retained,  and  shall  be  returned,  after  a  conference  with  Mr. 
Madison,  by  next  post. 

Surveyor  of  Portsmouth.  I  observe  Penhallow's  recommen 
dation  is  the  effect  of  solicitation,  as  is  evident  by  so  many 
signatures  to  one  formula.  Langdon  and  Whipple's  opinions 
in  favor  of  Wentworth,  the  facts  they  mention,  General  Dear 
born's  preference  of  him,  and  yours,  as  I  infer,  induce  me  to 
prefer  him  also ;  I  am,  therefore,  ready  to  sign  the  commission. 
I  retain  the  recommendations. 


1802.  LETTERS,   ETC.  93 

Wood's  commission  as  register  of  the  land  office  at  Marietta 
I  have  signed,  and  will  carry  on  to  be  signed  by  Mr.  Madison 
and  forwarded.  I  retain  the  recommendation. 

Killer's  resignation  returned. 

Mr.  Short  will  be  here  in  three  days.  I  will  consult  with  him 
about  the  books  to  be  bought  in  Paris. 

On  Mr.  Jones's  return  I  will  thank  you  to  think  again  of  the 
letters  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Short  and  E.  Randolph. 

I  have  not  heard  from  Mr.  Page,  and  should  much  wonder  at 
his  declining  the  appointment  at  Petersburg.  Should  he  do  so, 
there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the  substitute.  Dr.  Shore's 
appointment  would  be  more  locally  popular,  and  very  much  so 
generally.  He  has  every  right  to  it. 

I  have  received  the  address  of  two-thirds  of  the  merchants  of 
Newburyport  on  the  subject  of  Tyng's  removal,  and  praying 
a  reconsideration.  It  is  impudently  malignant.  I  shall  not 
notice  it. 

That  Louisiana  is  to  be  possessed  by  France  is  probable;  that 
any  man  in  America  has  undoubted  authority  that  it  will  be  so 
I  do  not  think. 

The  last  post  brings  me  the  opinions  of  the  Secretaries  at 
War  and  of  the  Navy,  as  well  as  yours,  on  our  Barbary  affairs. 
I  had  before  asked  and  received  that  of  the  Secretary  of  State ; 
but  as  his  did  not  go  to  all  the  points  arising  out  of  the  others, 
and  explanations  by  letter  might  lose  us  a  post  or  two,  I  shall 
immediately  on  closing  my  mail  for  this  day's  post  set  out  to 
Mr.  Madison's,  so  that  the  next  post  shall  carry  definitive 
arrangements  to  Washington,  where  it  will  arrive  on  Tuesday 
(24th)  at  8  P.M.  The  movements  of  our  post  do  not  seem  to  be 
understood  with  you  :  they  are  as  follows  : 

Fridays  and  Tuesdays,  at  7  P.M.  leaves  Washington.  Sun 
days  and  Thursdays,  at  noon  arrives  at  Milton.  Mondays  and 
Fridays,  at  1  P.M.  leaves  Milton.  Tuesdays  and  Saturdays,  at  8 
P.M.  arrives  at  Washington.  Accept  assurances  of  my  affectionate 
esteem  and  respect. 


94  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  23,  1802. 

DEAR  Sm, — Your  three  letters  of  August  18,  19,  and  20  are 
received.  I  now  return  you  the  Mississippi  regulations  signed. 
I  should  think  the  modification  you  propose,  of  inserting  "vice- 
consul  or  other  authorized  agent,"  a  necessary  one.  It  appears 
proper  to  remove  Head,  of  Waldoborough,  as  his  failure,  after 
such  warning,  to  render  his  accounts  is  a  sure  symptom  that  he 
is  using  the  public  money,  and  I  shall  be  ready  to  sign  a  com 
mission  for  anybody  recommended  by  General  Dearborn.  I 
have  never  heard  a  word  from  Mr.  Page  of  his  non-acceptance, 
nor,  I  imagine,  have  you,  as  you  do  not  say  so.  The  fact  is  too 
much  to  be  apprehended  from  his  letters  to  Dr.  Tucker,  men 
tioned  by  you.  Should  he  decline,  I  believe  there  can  be  no 
competition  with  Dr.  John  Shore  for  the  office,  for  whom,  there 
fore,  a  commission  may  be  made  out ;  there  has  been  a  time  when 
he  would  have  accepted  it,  and  I  am  in  hopes  he  will  now. 

I  had  written  yesterday  to  Mr.  Smith,  after  a  conference  with 
Mr.  Madison  on  the  measures  to  be  pursued  with  respect  to  the 
Barbary  powers  in  the  state  of  things  as  supposed  to  exist  at 
the  date  of  your  letter  of  August  16.  The  receipt  of  another 
letter  from  him,  after  mine  of  yesterday  had  gone  to  the  post- 
office,  informs  me  of  the  declaration  of  war  by  the  Emperor  of 
Morocco.  I  have  this  day  written  a  second  letter  to  Mr.  Smith, 
making  the  alterations  in  the  former,  which  are  rendered  neces 
sary  by  this  circumstance,  and  particularly  approving  of  his 
proposition  to  send  another  frigate  in  addition  to  the  New  York. 
But  for  particulars  I  must  refer  you  to  those  letters,  which  I 
have  asked  him  to  communicate  to  yourself  and  General  Dear 
born.  I  wish  much  to  hear  that  you  have  left  the  Federal  city, 
as  I  think  the  danger  of  remaining  there  great  in  this  season; 
nothing  else  would  prevent  my  going  there  now,  as  the  trans 
action  of  the  public  business  here  is  infinitely  more  laborious 
than  it  would  be  there,  and  leaves  it  in  my  power  to  be  of  little 
use  to  my  private  matters.  Accept  assurances  of  my  affectionate 
esteem  and  respect. 


1802.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  95 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  30,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — Yours  of  the  27th  was  received  yesterday ;  mine 
of  the  20th  had  informed  you  that  I  approved  of  Mr.  Went- 
worth  on  the  recommendations  of  Messrs.  Langdon  and  Whip- 
pie,  and  that  of  the  24th  gave  you  the  name  of  John  Shore  as 
successor  to  Heath ;  but  I  write  by  this  post  to  Mr.  Madison  to 
order  his  commission  to  be  filled  up  and  forwarded.  I  must 
take  time  to  inquire  for  a  good  successor  for  Reynolds.  The 
commission  for  Bloodgood  for  Albany  is  approved,  the  applica 
tion  for  it  left  to  yourself,  as  you  are  on  the  spot.  I  enclose  for 
your  perusal  a  petition  from  the  merchants  of  Marblehead  in 
favor  of  Gerry  •  before  receiving  it  I  had  written  to  his  brother 
that  a  second  appointment  had  rendered  it  impossible  to  do  any 
thing,  which  is  my  view  of  the  case;  return  the  petition  if  you 
please.  I  enclose  you  a  letter  from  Maury  and  Hampton,  giving 
reason  to  apprehend  an  attempt  at  smuggling  some  French 
negroes  into  our  country ;  although  this  will,  of  course,  be  met 
by  the  several  State  authorities,  yet  I  think  it  would  be  proper 
and  indeed  incumbent  on  us  that  you  should  write  a  circular 
letter  to  the  custom-house  officers  to  be  on  the  alert  to  detect  and 
prevent  such  an  attempt  to  smuggle  in  these  unfortunate  crea 
tures.  I  sincerely  lament  your  stay  at  Washington,  and  fear  that 
even  if  you  have  been  able  to  leave  it,  it  is  only  to  carry  the 
seeds  of  serious  illness  elsewhere.  Long  experience  and  obser 
vation  have  taught  me  to  fly  the  tide- water  in  August  and  Sep 
tember  ;  no  other  considerations  would  keep  me  from  Washing 
ton  in  the  present  state  of  affairs,  but  I  know  that  to  go  there  to 
transact  them  would  shortly  put  it  out  of  my  power  to  transact 
them  at  all.  I  hope  my  bod  ings  of  your  situation  will  prove 
false,  and  that  this,  though  directed,  as  you  desire,  to  Washing 
ton,  will  find  you  at  New  York  in  health.  Accept  my  affection 
ate  esteem  and  respect. 


WETTINGS    OF    GALL'ATIN.  1802. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  September  8,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  from  Delaware  another  appli 
cation  on  the  subject  of  the  piers,  &c.,  to  be  erected  in  their 
river.  It  is  on  behalf  of  Wilmington,  which  prays  to  have  its 
claim  for  these  things  taken  into  consideration  with  others,  and 
for  this  purpose  that  the  corporation  be  authorized  to  have  a 
report  made  of  their  harbor,  creek,  &c.  The  style  of  the  cor 
poration  is  the  Burgesses  and  Assistants  of  the  Borough  of  Wil 
mington.  I  suppose  it  proper  to  hear  all  claims  on  this  subject 
and  adopt  what  is  best.  The  date  of  the  letter  to  me  is  of 
August  25,  and,  as  you  have  passed  through  Wilmington  since, 
possibly  you  may  have  received  the  same  application  and  taken 
order  in  it. 

On  receiving  authentic  information  that  the  Emperor  of  Mo 
rocco  had  recalled  our  consul  and  allowed  six  months  for  ex 
planation,  I  have  countermanded  the  sailing  of  the  John  Adams. 
Information  from  Tunis  gives  us  to  believe  that  that  power  was 
in  perfect  good  dispositions  towards  us.  We  hear  nothing  au 
thentic  of  the  affair  of  the  Boston,  but  hope,  if  true,  it  will  not 
occasion  a  breach.  Tunis  is  soliciting  a  peace  for  Tripoli,  by 
authority  from  its  Bey,  so  that  I  trust  all  will  be  smoothed  in 
that  quarter ;  a  little  money  must  be  given  to  Morocco.  Accept 
my  friendly  salutations  and  respect. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  9th  September,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  been  here  four  days,  and  have  felt  the 
effects  of  my  late  stay  in  Washington ;  I  am  now  recovered,  but 
lament  that  the  situation  of  that  place  should  be  an  impediment 
to  that  constant  superintendence  which  is  so  essentially  necessary 
in  the  Treasury  Department.  On  the  20th  instant  I  intend 


1802.  LETTEES,    ETC.  97 

leaving  this  place  with  my  family,  and  expect  to  be  at  the  seat 
of  government  before  the  end  of  the  month. 

In  my  own  Department  I  have  nothing  of  any  importance 
to  communicate.  The  commissions  to  Cross  and  to  Wilson  for 
Newburyport  and  Marblehead  have  been  forwarded.  Mr.  Brent, 
of  the  Department  of  State,  has  been  instructed  to  forward  that 
to  John  Shore  for  Petersburg.  That  for  Gibault  vice  Tuck  for 
Gloucester  I  have  enclosed  in  a  private  letter  to  Captain  Crownin- 
shield,  with  a  request  that  he  should  make  positive  inquiries  as 
to  the  propriety  of  the  appointment  and  removal,  and  the  cer 
tainty  of  Gibault  accepting,  and,  in  case  of  any  impediment, 
that  he  should  return  the  new  commission  to  me  to  be  can 
celled,  and  keep  the  matter,  in  that  case,  in  silence.  I  have 
yet  no  information  for  Oswego  and  Brunswick  (Georgia),  and 
wait  for  your  instructions  in  relation  to  Yorktown  (Virginia). 
When  I  transmitted  the  recommendation  for  Wentworth  as  sur 
veyor  of  Portsmouth  (New  Hampshire),  I  also  sent  letters  from 
Messrs.  Whipple  and  Langdon  making  recommendations  for 
master  and  mate  of  the  revenue  cutter  there.  The  cutter  is 
ready,  and  the  commissions,  which  are  ready  signed  and  in  my 
possession,  should  be  transmitted.  Will  you  be  pleased  to  sig 
nify  your  approbation,  and  to  send  me  the  names  and  Christian 
names  of  the  two  persons  recommended,  as  I  have  preserved 
no  copy  ? 

I  was  sorry  to  find  that  you  had  approved  the  sending  of 
another  frigate  (the  John  Adams),  as  I  do  not  believe  that  it 
was  necessary,  and  the  appropriations  for  that  object  were  ex 
hausted.  In  recommending  the  sending  the  New  York,  I  went 
as  far  as  those  appropriations  would  permit,  and  did  not  know 
that  application  had  been  made  to  you  for  another  until  after  it 
was  done  and  the  mail  closed.  Edward  Livingston  has  not  yet 
rendered  his  account  of  bonds  put  in  suit,  and  is  gone  to  Virginia ; 
I  continue  very  uneasy  on  that  account. 

I  wrote  to  Colonel  Lee,  the  new  collector  of  Salem,  who  had 
recommended  Wilson  as  successor  of  Gerry,  and  whose  name 
(Wilson)  appears  to  the  petition  in  favor  of  Gerry,  that  his 
removal  was  indispensable.  The  petition  is  returned. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  Colonel  Hay,  of  Vermont,  but  have 

VOL.  I.— 8 


98  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

informed  his  friends  here  that  the  French  would  not  admit  any 
consuls  in  their  West  India  colonies. 

I  am,  with  great  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  September  13,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — On  learning  the  death  of  Wm.  Reynolds,  col 
lector  of  York,  and  that  Mr.  Griffin,  his  deputy,  would  not  act  at 
all,  I  made  immediate  inquiries  for  a  proper  successor,  and  learn 
that  William  Carey,  of  the  same  place,  is  the  best  person  we  can 
appoint.  I  this  day  desire  Mr.  Madison  to  order  a  commission. 
I  have  done  this  because  of  the  urgency  of  the  case,  of  your 
distance,  and  my  presence  on  the  spot. 

I  have  always  forgotten  to  ask  of  you  a  general  idea  of  the 
effect  of  the  peace  on  our  revenues  so  far  as  we  have  gone.  It 
is  of  the  utmost  importance,  if  these  diminish,  to  diminish  our 
expenses;  this  may  be  done  in  the  Naval  Department.  I  wish 
it  were  possible  to  increase  the  impost  on  any  articles  aifecting 
the  rich  chiefly,  to  the  amount  of  the  sugar  tax,  so  that  we  might 
relinquish  that  at  the  next  session.  But  this  must  depend  on 
our  receipts  keeping  up.  As  to  the  tea  and  coffee  tax,  the  people 
do  not  regard  it.  The  next  tax  which  an  increase  of  revenue 
should  enable  us  to  suppress  should  be  the  salt  tax,  perhaps ; 
indeed,  the  production  of  that  article  at  home  is  already  under 
mining  that  tax. 

I  have  desired  the  offices  to  forward  me  nothing  to  this  place 
after  the  mail  which  leaves  Washington  on  the  24th  instant. 
Accept  my  affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 


MONTICELLO,  September  17,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — Yours  of  the  9th  came  to  hand  yesterday  only, 
so  that  it  has  missed  a  post  somewhere.     I  thought  that  in  my 


1802.  LETTERS,    ETC.  99 

letter  of  August  20,  answering  yours  of  August  17,  I  had  an 
swered  every  point  distinctly;  but  I  find  on  recurring  to  it 
that  the  recommendations  of  Messrs.  Langdon  and  Whipple  for 
Hoply  Yeaton  to  be  master  and  Benjamin  Gunnison  first  mate 
of  the  revenue  cutter  in  New  Hampshire,  though  intended  to 
have  been  approved,  were  omitted.  I  now  approve  of  them. 

Mine  of  the  8th  will  have  informed  you  that  I  had  counter 
manded  the  sailing  of  the  John  Adams  on  an  invitation  of  the 
Emperor  of  Morocco  to  Simpson  to  remain.  But  I  have  yester 
day  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  R.  Smith  strongly  dissuading 
that  countermand  and  pressing  for  her  departure.  I  do  not 
answer  finally  by  this  post,  because  Mr.  Madison  is  to  be  with 
me  to-morrow,  and  we  will  consider  the  subject  on  yours  and 
Mr.  Smith's  letters.  I  had  thought  the  thing  so  plain  on  general 
grounds  that  I  had  asked  no  advice  on  it,  but  I  have  now  written 
to  General  Dearborn  for  his  opinion.  I  confess  I  see  no  argu 
ment  for  six  frigates  which  does  not  go  to  twelve. 

I  shall  be  at  Washington  on  the  last  day  of  this,  or  first  of 
the  next  month. 

Accept  my  affectionate  salutations  and  respect. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  September  20,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — In  my  last  I  informed  you  I  should  have  an 
opportunity  of  getting  Mr.  Madison's  opinion  on  the  expediency 
of  the  sailing  of  the  John  Adams.  I  have  done  so,  communi 
cating  to  him  yours  and  Mr.  Smith's  letters  on  the  subject. 
The  latter  having  informed  us  that  two  months'  pay  were  already 
advanced  to  the  men,  and  her  stores  provided,  the  consideration 
of  a  defective  appropriation  was  already  got  over,  and  we  were 
committed  in  it,  and  the  remaining  expenses  of  the  voyage  were 
thought  so  small  as  to  be  overweighed  by  the  advantages  which 
may  result  from  her  going;  to  this  opinion  I  have  acceded, 
though  not  with  entire  satisfaction,  I  confess ;  perhaps  I  build 
too  much  on  the  expectation  of  a  state  of  peace  with  Morocco 


100  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

and  Tunis ;  perhaps  I  see  too  strongly  the  embarrassment  of  the 
defective  appropriation.  Would  it  be  possible  to  put  the  extra 
advances  on  the  footing  of  a  debt  incurred,  the  arrearages  of 
which  might  be  covered  by  a  future  appropriation  ?  Should  the 
John  Adams  find  us  at  peace  with  all  the  Barbary  powers  except 
Tripoli,  I  have  referred  to  Mr.  Smith  to  recall  all  the  frigates, 
except  two,  before  winter,  or  to  let  the  question  lie  till  we  get 
together.  I  expect  to  set  out  for  "Washington  this  day  sennight, 
and  to  be  there  on  the  last  day  of  the  month  ;  but  I  may  be  one, 
two,  or  three  days  later.  Mr.  Madison  will  not  be  there  so  soon. 

Accept  my  affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  September  21,  1802. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  intend  leaving  this  city  this  evening,  and  ex 
pect  to  meet  you  at  Washington  the  last  of  this  month.  As  I 
take  my  family  along,  we  will  travel  but  slowly. 

I  should  suppose  that  your  intention  to  countermand  the 
sailing  of  the  Adams  came  too  late;  both  ships,  indeed,  were 
prepared  for  sea  in  a  much  shorter  time  than  would  have  been 
expected. 

Your  letter  informing  of  the  favorable  aspect  in  the  Mediter 
ranean  gave  me  true  satisfaction ;  it  will  enable  us  to  diminish 
our  naval  expenditures,  but  to  what  extent  must  be  left  to  a 
future  discussion,  and  will  rest  on  the  prospect  of  our  revenue. 
Of  this  it  is  very  difficult  to  form,  as  yet,  a  correct  idea;  it 
has  diminished,  and,  in  my  opinion,  will  experience  a  greater 
decrease  next  year;  but  our  data  are  not  sufficient  to  draw  posi 
tive  inferences.  Before  the  meeting  of  Congress  we  will  have 
a  comparative  view  of  imports  and  exports  for  the  year  ending 
30th  of  this  month,  which  will  give  us,  on  the  whole,  the  best 
account  we  can  prepare. 

I  can  ascertain  with  precision  how  much  the  importation  has 
diminished ;  but  although  we  can  have  also  an  account  of  exports 
for  the  same  period,  the  greatest  part  of  them  arises  from  the 


1802.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  101 

importations  of  the  preceding  year,  and  the  difficulty  lies  in 
judging  of  the  quantity  of  the  importations  destined  for  ex 
portation,  and  which  will  be  exported  generally  next  year.  Upon 
/"the  whole,  all  I  can  yet  say  is  that  we  cannot  think  for  this  year 
of  giving  up  any  taxes,  and  that  we  must  reduce  our  expenses 
(naval,  military,  and  foreign)  to  the  estimates  we  had  made,  and 
on  which  rested  the  propriety  of  the  repeal  of  the  internal  taxes. 

Mr.  Christie,  late  member  of  Congress  for  Maryland,  has  just 
arrived  from  London,  and  brought  despatches  from  Mr.  King, 
which  he  put  in  the  post-office ;  also  the  ratification  of  the  con 
vention.  Mr.  King  told  him  he  intended  asking  to  be  recalled 
next  year. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  Mr.  Symmes.  How  shall  we  ascer 
tain  the  true  conduct  of  Governor  St.  Clair  ?  Nothing  of  the 
decision  in  his  case  has  been  communicated  to  the  parties.  This 
will  not  be  considered  by  them  as  perfectly  just. 

My  health  is  not  yet  perfectly  good.  I  hope  travelling  and 
the  winter  will  restore  it ;  but  I  must  do  as  much  work  in  the 
same  time  as  I  did  last  fall. 

Hoping  to  have  soon  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you,  I  remain, 
with  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

Mr.  Burr  has  communicated  to  me  a  letter  which  he  wrote  to 
Governor  Bloomfield,  in  which  he  makes  an  explicit  denial  of 
the  charges  and  assertions  of  his  having  either  intrigued  with 
the  Federal  party  or  in  any  other  way  attempted  during  the 
late  election  or  balloting  to  counteract  your  election.  That 
transaction — I  mean  the  attack  on  Mr.  B.  by  Cheetham — has 
deeply  injured  the  Kepublican  cause  in  this  State. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIiNf;  ^.  ?        V\;'\  I'*!  \J 

October  7,  1802. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

The  application  of  the  Bank  of  Baltimore  is  of  great  impor 
tance.     The  consideration  is  very  weighty  that  it  is  held   by 


102  WRITINGS    OF    GALL  A  TIN.  1802. 

citizens,  while  the  stock  of  the  United  States  Bank  is  held  in  so 
great  a  proportion  by  foreigners.  Were  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  to  swallow  up  the  others  and  monopolize  the  whole  bank 
ing  business  of  the  United  States,  which  the  demands  we 
furnish  them  with  tend  shortly  to  favor,  we  might,  on  a  mis 
understanding  with  a  foreign  power,  be  immensely  embarrassed 
by  any  disaffection  in  that  bank.  It  is  certainly  for  the  public 
good  to  keep  all  the  banks  competitors  for  our  favors  by  a  judi 
cious  distribution  of  them,  and  thus  to  engage  the  individuals 
who  belong  to  them  in  the  support  of  the  reformed  order  of 
things,  or  at  least  in  an  acquiescence  under  it.  I  suppose  that 
on  the  condition  of  participating  in  the  deposits  the  banks 
would  be  willing  to  make  such  communications  of  their  opera 
tions  and  the  state  of  their  affairs  as  might  satisfy  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  of  their  stability.  It  is  recommended  to  Mr. 
Gallatin  to  leave  such  an  opening  in  his  answer  to  this  letter, 
as  to  leave  us  free  to  do  hereafter  what  shall  be  advisable  on  a 
broad  view  of  all  the  banks  in  the  different  parts  of  the  Union. 

P.S. — If  your  information  as  to  the  intemperance  of  Thomson 
be  not  completely  satisfactory,  a  Mr.  Sibbald,  of  that  State,  of 
whom  I  made  some  inquiry,  says  he  can  procure  good  informa 
tion  from  a  person  in  town. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TREASURY,  October  26,  1802. 
DEAR  SIR, — I  returned  Mr.  Dupont's  letter.  We  do  not 
pay  in  Europe,  any  part  of  the  interest  on  our  domestic  debt, 
which,  is  thaf  alluded  »to  by  him  as  partly  held  by  French  stock 
holder..  a  vTh-3.  .Baflk  of  £he  United  States,  for  a  majority  of 
the  foreign  stockholders  who  have  made  that  institution  their 
attorneys,  and  the  special  attorneys  of  the  others,  remit  the 
quarterly  interest  to  England  and  Holland,  where  the  stock 
holders  have  wished  it  to  be  paid.  If  the  French  stockholders 
will  make  Mr.  Dupont's  house  their  agents,  the  business  may 


1802.  LETTERS,   ETC.  103 

be  transacted  by  him  as  he  wishes ;  but  we  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it.  His  error  arises  from  his  having  supposed  that  the 
remittances  for  domestic  interest  to  Holland  were  made  by  gov 
ernment;  it  is  only  the  interest  and  principal  of  our  foreign 
debt  which  government  remits,  and  that  is  exclusively  held  in 
Holland. 

On  the  subject  of  the  Comptroller,  on  which  I  feel  much  in 
terested,  I  have  made  up  my  opinion,  after  a  fuller  examination 
of  his  duties  than  I  had  yet  bestowed  on  it,  that  a  certain  degree 
of  legal  knowledge  is  the  most  essential  qualification.  As  it  is 
difficult  to  find  any  one  man  in  whom  the  several  requisites  are 
united,  it  would  be  preferable  to  obtain  a  sound  lawyer,  or  at 
least  a  man  of  perfectly  sound  judgment  and  possessed  of  legal 
information  (who  had  at  least  read  law),  and  who  had  only  a 
general  idea  of  accounts,  than  a  perfect  accountant  without  law 
knowledge.  Not  only  the  general  nature  of  the  duties  of  that  office 
leads  me  to  that  conclusion,  but  it  is  also  impressed  with  consid 
erable  force  by  the  consideration  that  I  am  not  a  lawyer.  The 
law  questions  which  arise  in  the  Treasury  (exclusively  of  those 
relating  to  the  settlement  of  accounts)  are  numerous :  during 
the  Comptroller's  absence,  nearly  one-half  of  my  time  is  occu 
pied  by  questions  directed  to  me  by  collectors  and  which  I 
would  refer  to  him  if  he  was  present,  or  directed  to  him  and 
which  his  clerks  refer  to  me  during  his  absence.  If  we  have  a 
Comptroller  who  is  not  a  lawyer,  it  will  considerably  increase 
my  labor,  or  rather  prevent  its  being  applied  in  the  most 
proper  manner,  and  the  business  will  not  be  so  well  done,  as  I 
will  be  compelled  to  decide  on  a  much  greater  number  of  law 
questions. 

The  other  two  important  requisites  for  a  Comptroller  are  that 
he  should  possess  method  and  great  industry :  without  the  first 
the  last  would  be  of  no  avail,  and  to  fill  well  his  duties  he  can 
not  be  too  laborious.  Another  essential  point  is  that  he  should 
write,  if  not  with  elegance,  at  least  with  precision  and  great 
facility,  for  his  correspondence  is  very  extensive,  and  consists 
principally  of  decisions,  instructions,  and  explanations.  I  can 
not  write  even  a  decent  letter  without  great  labor ;  and  that  is 
another  reason  why  I  desire  that  the  Comptroller  may  be  able 


104  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

to  write  himself;  for  the  duties  of  the  two  offices  are  so  blended 
in  what  relates  to  the  collection  of  the  impost,  that  a  great  part 
of  the  correspondence  with  collectors  may  fall  either  on  the  one 
or  the  other,  as  may  be  agreed  on  between  them. 

But  I  repeat,  that  legal  knowledge  and  a  sound  judgment  are 
the  most  important  qualifications.  Who  will  answer  the  descrip 
tion  I  do  not  know,  unless  we  had  a  personal  knowledge  of 
men  :  I  am  afraid  of  the  eastward,  both  on  account  of  their  spe 
cies  of  law  knowledge,  on  which  I  could  not,  generally  speaking, 
place  much  greater  confidence  than  on  my  own  judgment,  and 
because  their  style  of  writing  is  not  as  classical  and  correct  as 
it  ought  to  be.  Mr.  Madison  has  mentioned  Judge  Duval,  of 
whom  I  never  heard  anything  but  favorable,  but  whom  I  do 
not  sufficiently  know  justly  to  appreciate  his  rate.  Who  was 
that  comptroller  of  New  York  whom  De  Witt  Clinton  once  pro 
posed  for  naval  officer,  intending  that  Bailey  should  have  his 
office?  He  spoke  highly  of  him;  but  I  recollect  neither  his 
name  nor  profession.  I  enclose  two  recommendations  for  Mr. 
Kuhn,  also  a  letter  from  Worthington  which  induces  a  belief  that 
politics  are  settling  the  right  way  in  the  North-West  Territory. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

Impost  for  last  quarter : — Payments  in  Treasury,  about  three 
million  four  hundred  thousand  dollars,  or  200,000  dollars  more 
than  in  any  preceding  quarter.  See  the  enclosed. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSOX. 
NOTES  ON   PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE. 

[December,  1802.] 

DEAR  Sra, — I  hope  that  your  Administration  will  afford  but 
/  few  materials  to  historians ;  and  we  have  already  a  favorable 
/  symptom,  in  the  difficulty  under  which  we  are  to  collect  mate 
rials  for  a  message.     The  things  you  want  to  be  done  are  very 
few,  and  seem  confined  to  the  following  points  : 


1802.  LETTERS,   ETC.  105 

1st.  Countervailing  duties,  if  necessary. — To  this  there  can  be 
no  objection ;  but  might  not  the  advantage  resulting  from  a 
mutual  abolition  of  duties  between  Great  Britain  and  America 
be  placed. on  more  positive  ground  than  the  shape  in  which  it 
stands,  "whether  this  would  produce  a  due  equality  is  a  subject," 
&c.,  and  does  not  the  conduct  of  Great  Britain  on  that  occasion 
deserve  a  freer  style  of  approbation  ? 

2d.  Foreign  seamen  deserting. — I  had  rather  omit  this  alto 
gether.  It  does  not  seem  of  sufficient  importance :  the  authority, 
though  derived  from  the  general  commercial  power  vested  in 
Congress,  may  be  considered  as  rather  constructive  than  positive: 
its  exercise  will  be  unpopular  as  was  that  given  to  the  French 
by  the  treaty,  and  which  was  accordingly  defeated,  whenever 
practicable,  by  placing  the  most  rigid  literal  construction  on  the 
article  of  the  treaty.  See  case  of  Captain  Barre  of  the  Perdrix, 
Dallas's  Reports. 

3d.  Naval  estimates. — Under  which  head  three  objects  seem 
to  be  recommended : 

1st.  A  conditional  authority  in  the  Executive  to  increase  the 
force. 

2d.  Purchase  or  building  small  vessels.  Both  of  which  are 
unexceptionable. 

3d.  Authority  for  our  vessels  to  act  offensively  in  case  of  war 
declared  or  waged  by  other  Barbary  powers.  I  do  not  and  never 
did  believe  that  it"  was  necessary  to  obtain  a  legislative  sanction 
in  the  last  case :  whenever  war  does  exist,  whether  by  the  decla 
ration  of  the  United  States  or  by  the  declaration  or  act  of  a 
foreign  nation,  I  think  that  the  Executive  has  a  right,  and  is 
in  duty  bound,  to  apply  the  public  force  which  he  may  have  the 
means  legally  to  employ,  in  the  most  effective  manner  to  annoy 
the  enemy.  If  the  instructions  given  in  May  or  June,  1801,  by 
the  Navy  Department  to  the  commander  of  the  Mediterranean 
squadron  shall  be  examined,  it  will  be  found  that  they  were 
drawn  in  conformity  to  that  doctrine ;  and  that  was  the  result 
of  a  long  Cabinet  discussion  on  that  very  ground.  It  is  true 
that  the  message  of  last  year  adopted  a  different  construction  of 
the  Constitution ;  but  how  that  took  place  I  do  not  recollect. 
The  instructions  given  to  the  commanders  to  release  the  crews 


106  WKI  TINGS    OF    GALL  ATI  N.  1802. 

of  captured  vessels  were  merely  because  we  did  not  know  what 
to  do  with  them ;  and  there  was  some  hesitation  whether  the 
instructions  should  not  be  to  give  them  up  to  the  Neapolitans. 
What  have  been  the  instructions  given  in  relation  to  Morocco, 
in  case  war  had  been  found  to  exist? 

4th.  Dry-dock. — I  am  in  toto  against  this  recommendation  : 
1st,  because  so  long  as  the  Mediterranean  war  lasts  we  will  not 
have  any  money  to  spare  for  the  navy ;  and,  2d,  because  if  dry- 
docks  are  necessary,  so  long  as  we  have  six  navy -yards,  it  seems 
to  me  that  a  general  recommendation  would  be  sufficient,  leaving 
the  Legislature  free  either  to  designate  the  place  or  to  trust  the 
Executive  with  the  selection.  It  is  highly  probable  that  Con 
gress  will  adopt  the  last  mode  if  the  recommendation  is  general, 
and  that  they  will  designate  another  place  if  this  shall  be  speci 
ally  recommended.  At  all  events,  I  would  strike  out  the  word 
"singular"  preceding  a advantage,"  and  modify  the  expressions 
of  the  whole  paragraph,  so  as  to  prevent  any  possible  attack  on 
the  ground  of  partiality  to  the  city.  The  moment  the  Poto- 
mack  is  mentioned,  political  enemies,  and  the  enemies  of  this 
place,  will  unite  in  representing  the  plan  of  a  dry-dock  as  pro 
posed  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  navigable  canal  from  that 
river  to  the  Eastern  branch.  Quere,  by  the  by,  whether  the 
charter  of  the  Potomack  Company  would  permit  taking  water 
above  the  little  falls? 

5th.  Seamen  discharged  abroad. — Should  not  the  recommen 
dation  to  legislate  be  more  strongly  expressed,  and  the  fact  of 
the  expense  having  been  partly  defrayed  from  the  contingent 
fund  simply  stated?  omitting  the  words  "thought  to  come," 
&c.,  which  seem  to  imply  doubt. 

6th.  Settlement  of  the  Mississippi  Territory,  instead  of  being 
connected  only  with  the  Choctaw  boundary,  depends  almost  en 
tirely  on  the  Georgia  cession  and  legislative  ratification,  which, 
being  now  binding  on  Congress,  positively  enjoins  the  opening 
of  a  land  office  for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  money  due  to 
Georgia ;  this,  perhaps,  will  preclude  the  idea  of  a  settlement 
condition ;  but,  after  having  read  over  the  articles  of  agreement 
with  that  State,  the  President  will  probably  be  induced  to  re 
model  that  part  of  the  message.  Some  notice  may  be  taken  of 


1802.  LETTERS,   ETC.  107 

the  provision  contemplated  for  satisfying  former  claims ;  also 
for  quieting  settlers  under  Spanish  titles  posterior  to  the  treaty  of 
1795.  We  expect  on  that  subject  communications  from  Governor 
Claiborne,  to  whom  the  commissioners  have  written  officially. 

7th.  Militia  Law  seems  almost  a  matter  of  course.  What  are 
the  defects  of  the  present  system  ?  and  could  any  specific  im 
provement  be  recommended  ?  I  think  that  the  important  point 
is  to  provide  that  the  Middle  and  Southern  States  militia  should 
have  arms  as  well  as  the  Eastern.  Shall  it  be  done  by  the  public 
purchasing  the  arms  and  selling  them,  or  by  rendering  it  penal,  as 
well  to  attend  without  arms,  as  not  to  attend  on  review  days  ? 

8th.  Missouri  seems,  as  it  contemplates  an  expedition  out 
of  our  own  territory,  to  be  a  proper  object  for  a  confidential 
message.  I  feel  warmly  interested  in  this  plan,  and  will  sug 
gest  the  propriety  that  General  Dearborn  should  write  immedi 
ately  to  procure  "  Vancouver's  Survey,"  one  copy  of  which,  the 
only  one  I  believe  in  America,  is  advertised  by  F.  Nichols,  No. 
70  Chestnut  Street,  Philadelphia.  Price,  with  all  the  charts, 
fifty-five  dollars. 

The  other  parts  of  the  message  are  only  statements  of  facts, 
on  which  (except  in  relation  to  finances)  only  two  points  have 
struck  me :  1st.  Louisiana,  which  might  perhaps  be  reserved 
for  the  confidential  message;  but  if  left  in  this,  I  had  rather 
place  the  taking  possession  by  the  French  on  hypothetical 
grounds,  saying  after  the  word  "  war,"  "  will,  if  it  shall  be  carried 
into  effect,  make  a  change,"  &c. ;  but  this  being  the  most  delicate 
part  of  the  speech  will,  I  presume,  be  the  subject  of  a  Cabinet 
consultation.  2d.  Indians,  who,  it  seems  to  me,  occupy  too 
much  space  in  the  message  in  proportion  to  the  importance  of 
the  subject. 

The  Wabash  Salt  Springs  might  be  omitted;  it  is  a  topic 
which  awakens  the  objections  to  the  salt  tax.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  might  be  wrell  once  more  to  remind  Congress  that  the 
trading-houses  law  will  expire  on  the  4th  of  March. 

Is  not  the  admission  of  the  new  State  in  the  Union  a  subject 
of  sufficient  importance  to  be  inserted  in  the  message  if  official 
information  be  received  ?  y 


108  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1802. 

FINANCES. 

1st.  Ratio  of  increase  greater  than  any  former  year. — Probable, 
but  not  certain. 

2d.  Only  four  and  a  half  million  dollars  in  Treasury  on  30th 
September,  1802. 

3d.  To  pay  from  the  Treasury, — say  within  one  year, — or 
perhaps  add  those  words  after  the  words  "five  millions  of 
principal." 

4th.  To  expenses  contemplated  in  Treasury  statement,  &c. — 
The  expenses  then  contemplated  were  those  then  authorized  by 
law  before  the  reduction  of  establishments,  and  before  the  repeal 
of  the  internal  duties ;  it  should  be,  "  contemplated  last  year  by 
Congress." 

5th.  Reduce  offices,  &c. — I  doubt  the  propriety  of  repeating 
this  year  this  admonition.  Mint,  Commissioner  of  Loans,  and 
Marines  are  the  only  possible  objects.  Others  to  as  great  an 
amount  will  probably  soon  take  place. 

6th.  /  have  already  discontinued,  &c. — Whenever  the  collec 
tion  was  closed,  the  offices  have  ceased  by  law,  without  any  act 
of  the  President.  It  would  be  better  to  speak  in  general  terms, 
saying  that  some  of  the  offices,  &c.,  have  already  been  discon 
tinued,  in  others  they  will,  &c.,  but  in  a  few,  &c. 

7th.  We  have  had  no  occasion,  &c. — I  had  rather  say,  "It 
has  not  yet  been  thought  necessary,"  &c. 

8th.  Shall  be  faithfully  applied. — I  would  like  the  introduction 
of  the  words,  "  in  conformity  to  the  provision  of  the  law  of  last 
session,"  or  any  other  allusion  to  that  law  showing  in  a  striking 
point  of  view  the  Federal  misrepresentation  of  that  law. 

9th.  The  statement  to  be  made  by  the  Commissioners  of  the 
Sinking  Fund  is  directed  to  be  made  annually  by  law.  Two  of 
that  board,  the  Vice-President  and  Chief  Justice,  are  officers 
independent  of  the  President.  Perhaps  the  President  should  not 
say  that  such  statement  will  be  laid  before  Congress. 

10th.  Estimates. — The  war  estimate,  spoken  of  in  another 
part  of  the  message,  makes  part  of  the  general  estimates  for  the 
year,  and  they  are  always  sent  all  together,  civil,  foreign  inter 
course,  military,  naval,  and  miscellaneous.  The  other  part  of 


1803.  LETTERS,    ETC.  109 

the  message  says  that  the  military  estimate  is  now  laid  before 
Congress,  which  is  not  correct. 

Note. — Under  that  head,  "  War  estimate,"  one  item  has  been 
introduced  which  requires  a  specific  authority,  viz.,  twenty  thou 
sand  dollars  for  holding  treaties. 

I  enclose  a  rough  sketch  of  the  expenses  and  receipts  for  the 
year  ending  30th  September,  1802.  It  is  not  yet  correct,  for 
want  of  some  accounts,  which  will  be  obtained  within  eight  or 
ten  days,  but  it  is  sufficiently  so  for  any  general  conclusions. 

The  President's  directions  to  make  free  remarks  have  been 
very  freely  followed. 

As  to  style  I  am  a  bad  judge,  but  I  do  not  like,  in  the  first 
paragraph,  the  idea  of  limiting  the  quantum  of  thankfulness 
due  to  the  Supreme  Being ;  and  there  is  also,  it  seems,  too  much 
said  of  the  Indians  in  the  enumeration  of  our  blessings  in  the 
next  sentence. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


MR.   GALLATIN   TO   MR.   MADISON.i 

DEAR  SIR, — I  send  the  letter,  which  is  longer  than  I  expected, 
and  of  which  I  have  no  copy.  I  will  therefore  want  it  sent 
again  to  me  when  you  shall  have  done  with  it,  in  order  that  I 
may  transcribe  it. 

The  classes  of  American  citizens  in  whose  favor  we  should 
assume  payment  of  French  debts  seem  to  be, — 

1st.  Those  whose  property  shall  have  been  taken  in  Europe 
or  the  West  Indies,  or  elsewhere,  by  or  under  the  authority  of 
the  French  government,  without  the  consent  of  the  parties. 

2dly.  Those  who  shall  have  made  contracts  for  supplies  with 
the  government. 

3dly.  Those  captured  at  sea,  whom  the  French  government 
may  think  proper  to  admit  to  have  been  illegally  captured.  If 
there  is  any  danger  that  those  captures,  which  should  have  been 
restored  by  virtue  of  the  convention  (not  being  ultimately  con 
demned),  shall  not  be  paid  for,  they  should,  of  course,  be  placed 

1  Endorsed  by  Mr.  Madison,  "  Hints  on  Mr.  Monroe's  negotiation." 


110  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

in  the  first  rank.  Debts  due  to  American  citizens  who  were 
agents  of  the  French  government  should  be  expressly  excepted, — 
Swan,  for  instance. 

Perhaps  the  French  government  may  insist  on  our  paying 
Beaumarchais,  as  they  have  interested  themselves  in  his  favor. 
Quere,  whether  that  should  be  agreed  on  ? 

If  West  Florida  can  alone  be  purchased,  it  is  certainly  worth 
attending  to;  but  in  that  case  making  the  river  Iberville  the 
boundary,  as  it  was  made  in  the  treaty  of  1762,  between  France 
and  England,  the  article  should  be  so  worded  as  to  give  us  the 
whole  channel  of  that  river,  or,  at  least,  to  permit  us  to  open  it, 
so  as  to  render  it  navigable  in  all  seasons.  At  present  the  bed  is 
thirty  feet  above  low-water  mark  for  fifteen  miles  from  the  Mis 
sissippi  to  Amite  River,  but  I  have  no  doubt  that  a  very  small 
opening  would  be  widened  and  deepened  afterwards  by  the  river. 
There  is  no  obstruction,  the  whole  being  level,  and  mud  or  sand. 
But  supposing  even  a  portage  there,  the  advantage  of  American 
houses  settled  in  an  American  port  would  soon  give  a  preference 
over  New  Orleans  to  that  port.  The  seaport  may  be  perhaps 
on  the  main  between  Pearl  and  Pascagoula  Rivers,  but  certainly 
on  that  island  called  "  Ship  Island,"  as  through  the  passage  be 
tween  that  and  the  next  island  there  are  more  than  twenty  feet 
water,  and  good  anchorage  close  to  the  shore  which  faces  the 
main.  A  frigate  of  thirty-six  guns  was  seen  there  by  E.  Jones 
(the  first  clerk  in  my  office,  who  is  brother  of  our  late  consul 
at  New  Orleans,  and  lived  ten  years  with  him  in  West  Florida), 
and  it  is  the  reason  of  its  bearing  that  name.  Judge  Bay  says 
that  there  is  another  island,  called  Deer  Island,  close  to  the  en 
trance  of  Lake  Pontchartrain,  which  affords  the  same  advantages. 
That  Jones  disbelieves,  but  the  other  is  certain ;  and  as  it  is  about 
half-way  between  Mobile  and  the  lake,  as  the  whole  navigation 
between  those  two  places  is  locked  in  by  the  islands,  and  safe 
even  for  open  boats  and  canoes,  that  island  would  become  the 
proper  seaport  for  both  rivers,  Mississippi  and  Mobile ;  for  you 
can  bring  but  nine  feet  up  Mobile  Bay,  seven  feet  over  the  bar 
of  Lake  Pontchartrain,  and  fifteen  over  the  bar  at  the  mouth  of 
the  Mississippi.  It  results  from  all  that,  that  the  possession  of 
West  Florida,  even  without  New  Orleans  Island,  is  extremely 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  HI 

important,  and  that  if  it  can  be  obtained,  it  ought  expressly  to 
include  all  the  islands  within  twenty  leagues,  or  such  distance  as 
to  include  those  which  are  marked  on  the  map. 

Please  to  send  me  the  paper  which  I  gave  you  yesterday. 

Yours. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  or  THE  TREASURY,  January  13,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — You  have  not  returned  any  answer  in  the  case 
of  Colonel  Worthington's  resignation.  He  recommends  Jesse 
Spencer,  of  Chillicothe,  as  a  proper  successor  for  the  place  of 
register  of  the  land  office. 

I  enclose  a  recommendation  for  keeper  of  the  light-house  at 
Old  Point  Comfort. 

The  enclosed  letter  from  the  collector  of  Michilimackinac 
(which  you  will  be  good  enough  to  return)  deserves  considera 
tion.  It  will  not  do  to  run  the  risk  of  an  Indian  war,  and  yet  if 
it  shall  be  once  known  that  we  dare  not  enforce  the  collection  law, 
it  will  be  perpetually  evaded.  Perhaps  the  best  mode  will  be  at 
first  to  confine  the  operation  of  the  law  to  Michilimackinac  and 
the  entrance  of  Lake  Michigan,  which  commands  the  whole  trade 
to  the  Indians  south  of  the  lake  and  to  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri  countries,  and  not  to  attempt  doing  anything  at  the 
Falls  and  Strait  of  St.  Mary,  which  forms  the  entrance  into 
Lake  Superior,  until  it  shall  be  found  convenient  to  have  a 
military  post  there,  at  which  time  a  surveyor  of  the  revenue  may 
also  be  appointed,  and  the  law  carried  into  effect,  as  I  believe, 
without  difficulty.  It  must  be,  however,  observed  that,  there 
being  no  positive  reservation  or  grant  to  the  United  States  along 
the  Strait  of  St.  Mary  or  anywhere  in  Lake  Superior,  made  by 
the  Indians  in  the  Greenville  Treaty,  they  may  object  to  the 
establishment  of  either  a  military  post  or  a  revenue  officer. 

I  have  read  Mr.  Lincoln's  observations,  and  cannot  distinguish 
the  difference  between  a  power  to,  acquire  territory  for  the 
United  States  and  the  power  to  extend  by  treaty  the  territory 
of  the  United  States ;  yet  he  contends  that  the  first  is  uncon- 


112  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.   '  1803. 

stitutional,  supposes  that  we  may  acquire  East  Louisiana  and 
West  Florida  by  annexing  them  to  the  Mississippi  Territory. 
Nor  do  I  think  his  other  idea,  that  of  annexation  to  a  State,  that, 
for  instance,  of  East  Florida  to  Georgia,  as  proposed  by  him,  to 
stand  on  a  better  foundation.  If  the  acquisition  of  territory  is 
not  warranted  by  the  Constitution,  it  is  not  more  legal  to  acquire 
for  one  State  than  for  the  United  States ;  if  the  Legislature  and 
Executive  established  by  the  Constitution  are  not  the  proper 
organs  for  the  acquirement  of  new  territory  for  the  use  of  the 
Union,  still  less  can  they  be  so  for  the  acquirement  of  new  terri 
tory  for  the  use  of  one  State ;  if  they  have  no  power  to  acquire 
territory,  it  is  because  the  Constitution  has  confined  its  views  to 
the  then  existing  territory  of  the  Union,  and  that  excludes  a 
possibility  of  enlargement  of  one  State  as  well  as  that  of  terri 
tory  common. to  the  United  States.  As  to  the  danger  resulting 
from  the  exercise  of  such  power,  it  is  as  great  on  his  plan  as  on 
the  other.  What  could,  on  his  construction,  prevent  the  Presi 
dent  and  the  Senate  by  treaty  annexing  Cuba  to  Massachusetts, 
or  Bengal  to  Rhode  Island,  if  ever  the  acquirement  of  colonies 
shall  become  a  favorite  object  with  governments,  and  colonies 
shall  be  acquired  ? 

But  does  any  constitutional  objection  really  exist  ? 

The  3d  Section  of  the  4th  Article  of  the  Constitution  provides : 

1st.  That  new  States  may  be  admitted  by  Congress  into  this 
Union. 

2d.  That  Congress  shall  have  power  to  dispose  of  and  make 
all  needful  rules  and  regulations  respecting  the  territory  or  other 
property  belonging  to  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Lincoln,  in  order  to  support  his  objections,  is  compelled 
to  suppose,  1st,  that  the  new  States  therein  alluded  to  must  be 
carved  either  out  of  other  States,  or  out  of  the  territory  belong 
ing  to  the  United  States ;  and,  2d,  that  the  power  given  to  Con 
gress  of  making  regulations  respecting  the  territory  belonging 
to  the  United  States  is  expressly  confined  to  the  territory  then 
belonging  to  the  Union. 

A  general  and  perhaps  sufficient  answer  is  that  the  whole  rests 
on  a  supposition,  there  being  no  words  in  the  section  which  con 
fine  the  authority  given  to  Congress  to  those  specific  objects  ; 


1803,  LETTEKS,   ETC.  113 

whilst,  on  the  contrary,  the  existence  of  the  United  States  as  a 
nation  presupposes  the  power  enjoyed  by  every  nation  of  extend 
ing  their  territory  by  treaties,  and  the  general  power  given  to 
the  President  and  Senate  of  making  treaties  designates  the  organs 
through  which  the  acquisition  may  be  made,  whilst  this  section 
provides  the  proper  authority  (viz.,  Congress)  for  either  admit 
ting  in  the  Union  or  governing  as  subjects  the  territory  thus 
acquired.  It  may  be  further  observed  in  relation  to  the  power 
of  admitting  new  States  in  the  Union,  that  this  section  was 
substituted  to  the  llth  Article  of  Confederation,  which  was 
in  these  words :  "  Canada  acceding,  &c.,  shall  be  admitted  into, 
&c.,  but  no  other  colony  shall  be  admitted  into  the  same,  unless 
such  admission  be  agreed  to  by  nine  (9)  States."  As  the  power 
was  there  explicitly  given  to  nine  (9)  States,  and  as  all  the  other 
powers  given  in  the  Articles  of  Confederation  to  nine  (9)  States 
were  by  the  Constitution  transferred  to  Congress,  there  is  no 
reason  to  believe,  as  the  words  relative  to  the  power  of  admis 
sion  are,  in  the  Constitution,  general,  that  it  was  not  the  true 
intention  of  that  Constitution  to  give  the  power  generally  and 
without  restriction. 

As  to  the  other  clause,  that  which  gives  the  power  of  govern 
ing  the  territory  of  the  United  States,  the  limited  construction 
of  Mr.  Lincoln  is  still  less  tenable ;  for  if  that  power  is  limited 
to  the  territory  belonging  to  the  United  States  at  the  time  when 
the  Constitution  was  adopted,  it  would  have  precluded  the  United 
States  from  governing  any  territory  acquired,  since  the  adoption 
of  the  Constitution,  by  cession  of  one  of  the  States,  which,  how 
ever,  has  been  done  in  the  case  of  the  cessions  of  North  Carolina 
and  Georgia ;  and,  as  the  words  "  other  property"  follow,  and 
must  be  embraced  by  the  same  construction  which  will  apply  to 
the  territory,  it  would  result  from  Mr.  L.'s  opinion,  that  the 
United  States  could  not,  after  the  Constitution,  either  acquire 
or  dispose  of  any  personal  property.  To  me  it  would  appear : 

1st.  That  the  United  States  as  a  nation-  have  an  inherent  right 
to  acquire  territory. 

2d.  That  whenever  that  acquisition  is  by  treaty,  the  same 
constituted  authorities  in  whom  the  treaty-making  power  is 
vested  have  a  constitutional  right  to  sanction  the  acquisition. 

VOL.  I. — 9 


114  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

3d.  That  whenever  the  territory  has  been  acquired,  Congress 
have  the  power  either  of  admitting  into  the  Union  as  a  new 
State,  or  of  annexing  to  a  State  with  the  consent  of  that  State, 
or  of  making  regulations  for  the  government  of  such  territory. 

The  only  possible  objection  must  be  derived  from  the  12th 
Amendment,  which  declares  that  powers  not  delegated  to  the 
United  States,  nor  prohibited  by  it  to  the  States,  are  reserved  to 
the  States  or  to  the  people.  As  the  States  are  expressly  prohibited 
from  making  treaties,  it  is  evident  that,  if  the  power  of  acquir 
ing  territory  by  treaty  is  not  considered  within  the  meaning  of  the 
Amendment  as  delegated  to  the  United  States,  it  must  be  reserved 
to  the  people.  If  that  be  the  true  construction  of  the  Constitu 
tion,  it  substantially  amounts  to  this:  that  the  United  States 
are  precluded  from,  and  renounce  altogether,  the  enlargement  of 
territory,  a  provision  sufficiently  important  and  singular  to  have 
deserved  to  be  expressly  enacted.  Is  it  not  a  more  natural  con 
struction  to  say  that  the  power  of  acquiring  territory  is  delegated 
to  the  United  States  by  the  several  provisions  which  authorize 
the  several  branches  of  government  to  make  war,  to  make  treaties, 
and  to  govern  the  territory  of  the  Union  ? 

I  must,  however,  confess  that  after  all  I  do  not  feel  myself 
perfectly  satisfied;  the  subject  must  be  thoroughly  examined; 
and  the  above  observations  must  be  considered  as  hasty  and 
incomplete. 

With  respect,  your  affectionate  servant. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIX. 

[January,  1803.] 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  happened  to  be  extraordinarily  pressed  by  business,  which 
prevented  my  answering  on  the  subject  of  Worthington's  resig 
nation,  but  I  observed  to  him  yesterday  that  as  he  had  a  right 
to  resign,  his  act  of  resignation  was  final,  and  did  not  need  an 
acceptance  to  validate  it.  If  he  apprehends  any  question,  he 
might  be  furnished  with  an  acceptance  of  the  same  date  with  his 
resignation.  Spencer  shall  be  nominated  register.  But  as  to  the 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC. 

place  of  light-house  keeper  at  Old  Point  Comfort  solicited  by 
Latimer,  you  may  recollect  that  long  ago  I  had  the  most  powerful 
recommendations  in  favor  of  Captain  Samuel  Eddins,  a  Revolu 
tionary  officer  of  great  merit,  the  officer  who  in  the  days  of  terror 
saved  Mr.  Jones's  press  in  Richmond  from  being  pulled  down 
by  a  mob  of  Federalists,  and  a  good  Republican.  These  recom 
mendations  have  been  lying  by  me  eighteen  months :  by  the  by, 
I  do  not  know  Avhether  the  appointment  is  by  you  or  me,  and  if 
the  latter,  whether  it  must  go  to  the  Senate.  I  have  given  Mr. 
Ellicot's  letter  to  Mr.  Madison  for  inquiry  and  consideration. 
This  should  have  been  settled  by  him  with  our  predecessors,  who 
alone  could  estimate  the  secret  service  and  his  authority  to  engage 
in  it.  I  think  with  you  on  the  subject  of  the  smuggling  at 
Michilimackinac :  that  we  must  not  get  into  disagreement  with 
the  Indians ;  that  without  openly  relinquishing  the  right  of  col 
lection,  the  officer  should  wink  at  things  at  a  distance  and  go  on 
as  he  has  done.  In  time  we  shall  get  rid  of  those  traders  by 
underselling  them,  and  engage  the  Indians  themselves  in  watch 
ing  for  us  against  smugglers.  You  are  right,  in  my  opinion,  as 
to  Mr.  LAs  proposition:  there  is  no  constitutional  difficulty  as  to 
the  acquisition  of  territory,  and  whether,  when  acquired,  it  may 
be  taken  into  the  Union  by  the  Constitution  as  it  now  stands, 
will  become  a  question  of  expediency.  I  think  it  will  be  safer 
not  to  permit  the  enlargement  of  the  Union  but  by  amendment 
of  the  Constitution.  Accept  affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  Januar}'  18,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — As  the  appropriation  bill-  for  the  navy  is  ready 
to  be  reported,  it  is  necessary  to  know  in  what  manner  the  pro 
visional  authorization  for  six  (6)  frigates  should  be  introduced. 
I  would  propose  that  exclusively  of  the  appropriations  for  the 
deficiencies  of  1802  and  those  for  the  74's,  vessels  in  ordinary, 
navy-yards  and  general  contingencies,  the  other  naval  appro 
priations,  amounting  per  estimate  to  $476,874^}-,  should  be  voted 


116  WRITINGS    OP    GALLATIN.  1803. 

in  manner  following,  to  wit :  three-fifths  of  the  whole  certain  for 
the  frigates  and  other  vessels  in  actual  service,  §286,000 

for  the  purchase  of  smaller  vessels,  say  70,000 

Certain  $356,000 

And  for  such  expenses  as,  with  the  approbation  of  the  President, 
may  be  incurred  during  the  recess  of  Congress,  on  account  of 
any  vessels  which  he  may  think  necessary  to  put  in  commission 
(or  to  employ  in  actual  service)  if  any  war  should  break  out  (or 
if  any  hostilities  should  be  committed)  between  the  United  States 
and  any  of  the  Barbary  powers  other  than  Tripoli, 

The  remaining  $120,000 
$476,000 

You  will  be  pleased  to  notice  that  those  $476,000  are 
the  estimate  of  keeping  in  actual  service,  for  the  whole  of  the 
year  1803,  six  frigates  and  one  schooner,  and  that  there  is  an 
additional  appropriation  of  $180,000,  which  covers  all  the  defi 
ciencies  of  1802,  including  the  pay,  provisions,  and  all  other  ex 
penses  of  the  whole  Mediterranean  squadron  to  the  31st  Decem 
ber  last.  I  think,  therefore,  that  three-fifths  of  that  estimate 
will  be  sufficient  to  support  the  intended  establishment  in  the 
Mediterranean  for  1803  if  only  Tripoli  shall  continue  at  war. 

In  order  to  bring  the  whole  subject  before  you,  I  will,  from 
the  estimate,  recapitulate  the  naval  appropriations  asked  for  this 
year,  viz. : 
1st.  Six  frigates  and  one  schooner  in  commission, 

including  repairs  and  contingencies,  $476,874.86 

2d.  Seven  frigates  in  ordinary,  including  repairs 

and  contingencies,  100,042.34 

3d.  Half-pay  to  officers  not  in  service,  14,136.00 

4th.  Stores,  military  and  naval,  ordnance,  &c.,  15,000.00 

5th.  General  contingencies  (exclusively  of  those  for 

vessels,  viz.:   store-rent,  commissions,  freight, 

travelling  expenses  of  officers),  40,OOO.OQ 

6th.  74-gun  ships,  114,425.00 

7th.  Navy-yards,  docks,  48,741.37 

8th.  Marine  corps,  90,780.43 

$900,000.00 
Exclusively  of  $181,849.09  for  deficiencies  of  1802. 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  117 

The  appropriations  marked  1,  2,  3,  and  5  amount  to  $631,- 
053.20,  which  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  requests  may  be 
arranged  under  the  following  heads,  viz. : 

a.  Pay  of  officers  and  seamen,  and  subsistence  of 

officers,  $283,993.00 

b.  Provisions,  157,360.20 

c.  Hospital  and  medical  accounts,  7,700.00 

d.  Contingent  accounts,  viz. : 

Repairs  and  contingencies  of 

vessels  in  commission,  79,000 

Repairs  and  contingencies  of 


seven  vessels  in  ordinary,  63,000 

General   contingencies  as  per 

No.  5  above,  40,000 


182,000.00 


$631,053.20 


To  those  two  last  items  of  contingencies  of  63,000  and  40,000 
dollars  I  object,  as  much  beyond  what  is  really  necessary  for 
those  objects.  It  is  incredible  that  the  annual  repairs  of  the 
frigates  in  ordinary  should  amount  to  9000  dollars  per  frigate; 
and,  with  no  great  economy,  ten  thousand  dollars  ought  to 
suffice  (instead  of  40,000)  for  the  general  contingencies  of  com 
mission,  rent,  and  travelling  expenses;  since  there  are  appro 
priations,  exclusively  of  that  40,000  dollars,  for  the  contingencies 
of  vessels,  for  repairs,  for  the  contingencies  of  the  marine  corps, 
and  for  stores.  What  those  40,000  dollars,  therefore,  are  for,  I 
am  totally  at  a  loss  to  know;  only  16,000  are  asked  for  the 
military  establishment :  indeed,  I  cannot  discover  any  approach 
towards  reform  in  that  department  (the  navy),  and  I  hope  that 
you  will  pardon  my  stating  my  opinion  on  that  subject,  when  you 
recollect  with  what  zeal  and  perseverance  I  opposed  for  a  number 
of  years,  whilst  in  Congress,  similar  loose  demands  for  money ; 
my  opinions  on  that  subject  have  been  confirmed  since  you  have 
called  me  in  the  Administration,  and,  although  I  am  sensible 
that  in  the  opinion  of  many  wise  and  good  men  my  ideas  of  ex 
penditure  are  considered  as  too  contracted,  yet  I  feel  a  strong 
confidence  that  on  this  particular  point  I  am  right.  Indeed, 
the  possibility  of  wanting  600,000  dollars  more  a  year  without 


118  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

additional  taxes  must,  at  this  time,  be  a  sufficient  apology  for 
urging  every  practicable  economy. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  Mr.  Bradley,  and  one  from  Mr.  Wads- 
worth,  of  Congress.  To  the  last  I  do  not  know  what  answer  to 
make.  The  cold  weather  affects  me  so  much  that  I  remained 
home  to-day,  and  have  troubled  you  with  this  letter,  instead  of 
waiting  on  you. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  21st  March,  1803. 

.  DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  the  only  letters  of  any  importance 
which  I  have  received  since  you  left  the  city.  The  answer  to 
that  from  Mr.  Thornton  is  also  enclosed.  To  Mr.  Muhlenberg 
I  answered  generally  that  I  would  approve  what  he  might  think 
best  to  be  done  respecting  the  inspectors.  I  foresee  a  schism  in 
Pennsylvania:  the  most  thinking  part  of  the  community  will 
not  submit  to  the  decrees  of  partial  ward  or  township  meetings ; 
and  yet  the  violent  party  will  have  a  strong  hold  on  public 
opinion  in  representing  that  those  who  resist  them  must  be  con 
sidered  as  the  friends  of  Jackson  and  McPherson.  I  have  not 
heard  whether  they  mean  to  address  you,  but  hope  they  may 
not;  and  this  incident  will,  at  all  events,  render  the  question 
of  removals  still  more  delicate  and  difficult. 

I  had  a  long  conversation  with  Captain  Murray,  of  the  Con 
stellation  :  he  says  that  at  any  time  from  March  to  the  latter 
end  of  September,  whilst  he  was  on  the  Tripoli  station,  peace 
might  have  been  obtained  for  five  thousand  dollars,  and  that  the 
opportunity  has  been  lost  by  the  delays  of  Morris  in  the  vicinity 
of  Gibraltar  and  in  going  up  the  Mediterranean,  but  that  he  is 
much  afraid  that  now  that  they  are  no  longer  at  war  with 
Sweden,  matters  accommodated  with  France,  and  no  further 
danger  apprehended  by  the  Bashaw  from  his  brother,  a  peace 
cannot  be  attained  but  upon  very  extravagant  terms. 

The  refusal  of  a  passport  to  the  Morocco  provision-ship  he 


1803.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  119 

considers  as  ridiculous,  as  it  could  not  affect  the  state  of  affairs 
in  relation  to  Tripoli,  and  those  uncivilized  states  cannot  under 
stand  the  refined  theory  of  the  law  of  nations  and  of  the  duties 
of  neutrals.  He  adds  that  there  was  not,  when  he  left  Europe, 
any  danger  to  be  apprehended  from  Morocco,  the  only  source  of 
uneasiness  being  the  non-arrival  of  the  gun-carriages. 

The  late  accounts  from  Algiers  and  Tunis  appear  unpleasant. 
No  time,  it  seems,  should  be  lost  in  sending  the  stores  to  Algiers; 
and  the  appointment  of  a  proper  character  in  the  Mediterra 
nean  to  have  the  superintendence  of  the  Barbary  affairs  appears 
indispensable. 

Will  you  be  able  to  find  such  one  ?  I  feel  more  uneasy  about 
the  state  of  affairs  in  that  quarter  than  in  relation  to  the 
Louisiana  business. 

You  did  not  mention  whether  Mr.  Briggs  would  accept  the 
appointment  of  surveyor  at  Natchez. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  March  28,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — Yours  of  the  21st  came  to  hand  on  the  25th.  I 
now  return  the  letters  of  Thornton  and  Muhlenberg  with  entire 
approbation  of  your  answers.  I  am  in  all  cases  for  a  liberal 
conduct  towards  other  nations,  believing  that  the  practice  of  the 
same  friendly  feelings  and  generous  dispositions  which  attach 
individuals  in  private  life  will  attach  societies  on  the  large  scale, 
which  are  composed  of  individuals.  I  have  for  some  time  be 
lieved  that  Commodore  Morris's  conduct  would  require  investi 
gation.  His  progress  from  Gibraltar  has  been  astonishing.  I 
know  of  but  one  supposition  which  can  cover  him ;  that  is,  that 
he  has  so  far  mistaken  the  object  of  his  mission  as  to  spend  his 
time  in  convoying.  I  do  not  know  the  fact ;  we  gave  great  lati 
tude  to  his  discretion,  believing  he  had  an  ambition  to  distinguish 
himself,  and  unwilling  to  check  it  by  positive  instructions. 
I  have  for  some  time  been  satisfied  a  schism  was  taking  place  in 


120  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

Pennsylvania  between  the  moderates  and  high-fliers.  The  same 
will  take  place  in  Congress  whenever  a  proper  head  for  the  latter 
shall  start  up,  and  we  must  expect  division  of  the  same  kind  in 
other  States  as  soon  as  the  Republicans  shall  be  so  strong  as  to 
fear  no  other  enemy.  I  hope  those  of  Philadelphia  will  not  ad 
dress  on  the  subject  of  removals ;  it  would  be  a  delicate  operation 
indeed.  Briggs  reserved  till  my  return  to  decide;  but  he  will 
accept.  I  had  hoped  to  be  with  you  by  the  1st  of  April,  but  I 
now  apprehend  it  will  be  that  date  before  I  can  leave  this  place 
without  leaving  the  objects  of  my  visit  unaccomplished.  The 
thermometer  is  at  29°  with  us  this  morning,  the  peach-trees  in 
blossom  for  a  week  past.  Accept  affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  or  THE  TREASURY, 

WASHINGTON,  April  13,  1803. 

DEAE  SIR, — I  perceive  nothing  in  the  enclosed  which  should,  in 
my  opinion,  require  alteration ;  perhaps  something  might  be  added. 

The  present  aspect  of  aifairs  may  ere  long  render  it  necessary 
that  we  should,  by  taking  immediate  possession,  prevent  G.  B. 
from  doing  the  same.  Hence  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  posts, 
establishments,  and  force  kept  by  Spain  in  Upper  Louisiana,  and 
also  of  the  most  proper  station  to  occupy  for  the  purpose  of  pre 
venting  effectually  the  occupying  of  any  part  of  the  Missouri 
country  by  G.  B.,  seems  important ;  with  that  view  the  present 
communications  of  the  British  with  the  Missouri,  either  from  the 
Mississippi,  or,  which  is  still  more  in  point,  from  the  waters 
emptying  in  Lake  Winnipeg  and  generally  in  Hudson  Bay, 
should  be  well  ascertained,  as  well  as  the  mode  in  which  a  small 
but  sufficient  force  could  best  be  conveyed  to  the  most  proper 
point  from  whence  to  prevent  any  attempt  from  Lake  Winnipeg. 
But,  whatever  may  be  the  issue  of  the  present  difficulties,  the 
future  destinies  of  the  Missouri  country  are  of  vast  importance 
to  the  United  States,  it  .being  perhaps  the  only  large  tract  of 
country,  and  certainly  the  first  which,  lying  out  of  the  boundaries 
of  the  Union,  will  be  settled  by  the  people  of  the  United  States. 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  121 

The  precise  extent,  therefore,  of  the  country  drained  by  all  the 
waters  emptying  into  that  river,  and  consequently  the  length  and 
directions  of  all  the  principal  branches,  ought  to  be  as  far  as 
practicable  ascertained,  as  well  as  that  particular  branch  which 
may  be  followed  for  the  purpose  of  examining  the  communica 
tions  with  the  Pacific  Ocean.  That  tract  of  country  is  bounded 
on  the  north  by  the  waters  of  Hudson's  Bay,  the  extent  of  which 
southwardly  is  tolerably  ascertained  by  Mackenzie  and  others; 
westwardly  by  the  waters  of  the  Columbia  and  other  rivers 
emptying  into  the  Pacific,  which  it  is  the  principal  object  of  this 
voyage  to  explore ;  and  southwardly,  it  is  presumed,  by  the  waters 
of  Rio  Norte.  How  far  these  extend  northwardly  and  confine 
the  waters  of  the  Missouri  it  is  important  to  know,  as  their  posi 
tion  would  generally  determine  the  extent  of  territory  watered 
by  the  Missouri.  It  is  presumable,  from  analogy,  that  the  waters 
of  Hudson  Bay,  which  interlock  with  the  many  northerly  streams 
of  the  Missouri,  are  divided  from  them  by  elevated  lands  inter 
spersed  with  lakes,  but  not  by  any  regular  chain  of  mountains. 
By  the  same  analogy  (for  within  the  United  States  and  known 
parts  of  North  America  the  spring  of  every  river  north  of  42° 
latitude  issues  from  a  lake,  and  south  of  41°  from  a  mountain), 
it  is  probable  that  the  northern  branches  of  the  Bio  Norte  are 
separated  from  the  southern  streams  of  the  Kansas  and  Missouri 
Rivers  by  a  chain  of  mountains  running  westwardly  till  it  unites 
with  the  chain  which  divides  the  waters  of  the  Missouri  and 
other  rivers  from  those  emptying  into  the  Pacific.  Hence  it  is 
presumable  that  the  distance  of  that  east  and  west  chain  from 
the  Missouri  will  generally  show  the  extent  of  country  watered 
by  this  river,  f? And  although  Capt.  L.  going  westwardly  towards 
his  main  object  may  not  personally  become  acquainted  with  the 
country  lying  south  of  his  track,  yet  so  far  as  he  may  collect  in 
formation  on  that  subject,  and  also  on  the  communications  with 
the  Rio  Norte  or  other  southern  rivers,  if  any  other,  which  is  not 
probable,  interlocks  with  the  Missouri,  it  would  be  a  desirable 
object.  The  great  object  to  ascertain  is  whether  from  its  extent 
and  fertility  that  country  is  susceptible  of  a  large  population  in 
the  same  manner  as  the  corresponding  tract  on  the  Ohio.  Besides 
the  general  opinion  which  may  be  formed  of  its  fertility,  some 


122  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

more  specific  instructions  on  the  signs  of  the  soil  might  be  given, 
the  two  principal  of  which  are  the  prevailing  species  of  timber, 
whether  oak,  beech,  pine,  or  barren,  and  the  evenness  or  moun 
tainous  and  rocky  situation  of  the  lands. 

Those  two  circumstances  do  generally  determine  in  America 
the  quantity  of  soil  fit  for  cultivation  in  any  one  large  tract  of 
country,  for  I  presume  there  are  no  swamps  in  that  part  of  the 
world.  But  several  more  signs  might  be  added,  to  which  the 
traveller  should  pay  attention. 

I  think  Capt.  L.  ought  to  take,  on  the  Spanish  side  of  the 
Illinois  settlement,  some  person  who  had  navigated  the  Missouri 
as  high  as  possible,  and  it  might  not  be  amiss  to  try  to  winter 
with  the  traders  from  that  quarter  who  go  to  the  farthest  tribes 
of  Indians  in  the  proper  direction.  A  boat  or  canoe  might  be 
hired  there  (at  the  Illinois)  to  carry  up  to  that  spot  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  flour  to  enable  him  to  winter  there  with  comfort,  so 
that  his  hands  should  be  fresh  and  in  good  spirits  in  the  spring. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

June  16,  1803. 

DEAK  SIR, — I  enclose  a  sketch  of  the  conditions  on  which  the 
Salt  Springs  or  Wabash  may  be  offered ;  also  T.  Coxe's  answer 
respecting  the  purveyorship.  Please  to  examine  the  conditions 
of  the  lease  and  to  suggest  alterations.  I  will  call  to-morrow 
in  order  to  explain  the  reasons  of  some  of  them  and  receive  your 
decision,  after  wrhich  I  will  make  an  official  report. 

I  received  last  night  a  private  letter  from  New  York,  in 
which  E.  Livingston's  defalcation  is  spoken  of  as  a  matter  of 
public  notoriety  in  that  city.  I  suspected  as  much  from  the  last 
letter  from  Gelston,  and  answered  rather  angrily.  His  letters 
and  copy  of  my  last  answer  are  enclosed.  The  copy  of  mine 
of  the  21st  April  I  cannot  find ;  it  was  short,  but  very  explicit. 
A  resignation  or  removal  must  unavoidably  follow,  and  I  ap 
prehend  an  explosion.  But,  at  all  events,  a  successor  should 
be  immediately  provided. 


1803.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  123 

"Will  you  have  any  objections  to  write  to  D.  W.  Clinton,  or 
shall  I  do  it  ?  I  would  prefer  that  he  should  be  requested  to 
mention  the  names  of  two  or  more  persons,  and  he  must  be  told 
that  talents  and  legal  knowledge  sufficient  to  defend  the  suits 
of  the  United  States,  and  integrity  that  may  hereafter  secure  us 
against  any  danger  or  even  imputation  of  want  of  caution,  are 
absolutely  necessary.  I  think  no  time  ought  to  be  lost ;  and  if 
we  had  a  successor  ready  I  would  propose  an  immediate  appoint 
ment  ;  for  by  the  law  every  bond  unpaid  must  on  the  day  after 
it  has  become  due  be  lodged  in  hands  of  the  District  Attorney, 
and  no  day  passes  without  several  being  thus  placed. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  21st  June,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  a  letter  from  the  Commissioner  of  the 
Revenue  respecting  Mr.  Gordon's  claims:  as  he  gave  a  memo 
randum  in  writing,  Mr.  G.  should  produce  it.  Also  recommen 
dations  from  Messrs.  Bacon  and  Yarnum  in  favor  of  Francis 
Carr  for  the  office  of  naval  officer  at  Newburyport.  The  present 
incumbent  [is  Michael  Hodge1]  is  Jonathan  Titcomb,  of  whom  I 
know  nothing.  Also  a  letter  from  Tench  Coxe;  his  suggestions 
of  a  report  proceeding  from  Messrs.  Madison  and  Lewis  are  with 
out  foundation;  but  Captain  Lewis  says  that  the  Republicans  in 
Philadelphia  seem  generally  agreed  that,  in  case  of  the  removal 
of  either  of  the  two  custom-house  officers,  he,  Mr.  Coxe,  is  entitled 
to  the  preference.  The  salary  of  the  naval  officer  (McPherson) 
is  3500  dollars,  of  the  surveyor  (Jackson)  3000,  and  of  the 
purveyor  only  2000.  I  feel  no  hesitation  in  saying  that,  on  the 
grounds  of  public  services  and  capacity,  as  well  as  on  account 
of  his  having  been  formerly  removed,  Mr.  Coxe's  pretensions  to 
the  most  lucrative  of  those  offices  which  may  be  vacated  appear 
well  grounded :  personal  predilection  for  him  I  have  not,  and  I 

1  Inserted  by  Mr.  Jefferson. 


124  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

do  not  know  who  would  be  the  best  person  to  appoint  purveyor 
if  he  was  made  surveyor ;  but  justice  seemed  to  require  that 
expression  of  my  opinion  in  his  favor  on  that  point. 

There  would,  however,  be  an  objection  to  his  being  substituted 
in  lieu  of  Mr.  McPherson,  which  does  not  apply  to  his  replacing 
Jackson :  in  the  first  instance,  the  act  of  giving  to  a  man  who 
had  left  the  Americans  and  joined  the  British  the  office  of  him 
who  had  left  the  British  to  join  the  Americans  would  make  too 
forcible  a  contrast.  Yet,  to  me,  the  prefect  of  the  Pretorian  bands 
is  much  more  obnoxious  than  the  insignificant  Jackson. 

As  it  wrill  be  necessary  for  me  to  answer  Mr.  Coxe's  letter,  I 
wish  to  know  your  final  determination  respecting  those  Philadel 
phia  offices,  in  order  that  my  answer  may  be  properly  modified 
to  meet  your  own  intentions ;  it  seems  to  me  that  if  the  surveyor's 
place  is  to  be  given  to  another  person,  it  will  be  proper,  without 
entering  into  any  confidential  communications,  that  I  should 
inform  Mr.  Coxe  that  he  was  altogether  mistaken,  and  that  you 
had  not  intended  any  other  office  for  him  than  that  of  purveyor. 

It  is  proper,  at  the  same  time,  that  you  should  know  that, 
although  this  last  office  has  a  less  salary  affixed  to  it,  perhaps 
because  it  is  less  laborious,  it  is  more  respectable,  important,  and 
responsible  than  that  of  surveyor.  The  surveyor  is  the  head  of  the 
tide-waiters,  inspectors,  and  other  out-doors  inferior  officers  of  the 
custom-house,  distributes  them  on  board  the  vessels,  receives  their 
reports,  watches  smuggling  and  other  irregular  proceedings,  &c., 
but  not  a  single  penny  of  public  moneys  passes  through  his  hands. 
The  purveyor  is  by  law  the  officer  who  should  make  all  the  pur 
chases  of  clothing,  stores,  <fec.,  for  the  War  and  Navy  Depart 
ments,  and  several  hundred  thousand  dollars  pass  annually 
through  his  hands.  He  is  practically  employed  principally  by 
the  Secretary  of  War,  the  Navy  Department  having,  improperly 
in  my  opinion,  continued  to  employ,  in  Philadelphia,  agents 
(Harrison  and  Sterret),  to  whom  a  commission  is  paid  for  services 
which  the  purveyor  ought  to  perform.  By  conversing  with  Cap 
tain  Lewis  you  will  receive  every  necessary  information  respecting 
public  opinion  and  feeling  in  Philadelphia,  and  you  will  perceive 
that  I  cannot  wish  to  communicate  with  any  person  there  on  the 
subject  of  removals  and  offices  except  with  a  full  knowledge  of 


1803.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  125 

your  ultimate  determination,  and  even  then  not  without  some 
considerable  reluctance.  I  think,  however,  that  what  is  right  in 
itself  ought  to  be  done,  without  being  deterred  by  the  imputation 
that  the  ward  meetings  have  compelled  the  Executive  to  act  in  a 
different  way  from  what  he  intended ;  and  the  intemperance  of 
some  individuals  will  not  prevent  my  communicating  to  you  my 
impressions,  even  where  the  result  is  favorable  to  their  views,  as 
freely  as  if  they  had  acted  and  spoken  with  perfect  propriety. 
Robert  Hays,  marshal  of  West  Tennessee,  has  drawn  improperly 
on  the  Treasury  for  more  than  two  thousand  dollars.  The  bill 
was  not  paid,  and  on  a  settlement  of  his  accounts  about  one  thou 
sand  dollars  wrere  found  due  to  him.  In  order  to  apologize  for 
his  having  drawn  the  two  thousand,  he  pretends  now  that  a  bill 
drawn  more  than  a  year  ago  by  him  on  the  Treasury  in  favor  of 
Henning  and  Dixon  (who  is,  I  believe,  Dixon  of  Congress), 
endorsed  by  these  to  a  respectable  merchant  in  Philadelphia,  to 
whom  it  was  paid  by  the  Treasury,  was  a  forgery.  Should  that 
be  the  case,  there  will  be  no  loss,  as  the  endorsers  are  perfectly 
responsible.  But  from  comparing  the  handwriting,  from  the 
respectability  of  the  parties,  and  various  other  circumstances, 
I  have  not  the  least  doubt  of  his  assertion  being  altogether  false. 
This  having  led  me  to  further  inquiry,  I  find  that  he  never 
writes  anything  but  his  name,  and  that  sometimes  under  the 
visible  effects  of  intoxication,  that  he  renders  his  accounts  irregu 
larly  and  always  in  an  incomplete  manner,  that  he  is  incapa 
ble,  and  has  contracted  such  habits  of  intemperance  as  render 
it  necessary  that  he  should  be  removed.  The  only  persons  I 
know  in  West  Tennessee  are  Mr.  Dixon,  the  member  of  Con 
gress,  and  Andrew  Jackson,  formerly  a  member.  The  two 
Senators  live  in  East  Tennessee,  which  is  a  distinct  district,  with 
a  marshal  of  its  own.  Where  Mr.  Smith  lives  I  do  not  positively 
know,  but  believe  in  East  Tennessee.  Please  to  direct  what  shall 
be  done,  and  whether  I  may  write  to  Messrs.  Dixon  and  Jackson, 
or  to  either  of  them,  for  information  of  a  proper  successor. 
With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


126  WRITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1803. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TREASURY,  July  2,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  the  letters  received  on  the  subject  of 
E.  Livingston.  If  Mr.  Gelston  is  right  in  supposing  that  the 
list  dated  18th  June  has  been  paid  to  the  District  Attorney, 
there  is  a  defalcation  of  at  least  that  amount,  to  wit,  thirty 
thousand  dollars ;  besides  which,  he  may  have  received  part  of 
the  bonds  which  had  been  put  in  suit  whilst  Mr.  Harrison  was 
District  Attorney,  and  has  received  some  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales  of  Mr.  Lamb's  (the  late  collector)  estate.  I  would  not 
be  astonished  if  the  whole  deficiency  exceeded  forty  thousand 
dollars. 

That  is  far  greater  than  I  had  any  idea  of  from  Mr.  G.'s 
preceding  letters,  but  his  account  is  neither  clear  nor  final.  What 
may  bring  Mr.  L.  here  I  do  not  understand :  he  can  have  no 
expectation  of  remaining  in  office  under  such  circumstances. 
Mr.  Clinton's  recommendation  appears  unexceptionable.  Mr. 
Sanford  was,  I  believe,  originally  recommended  by  General 
Smith,  of  Long  Island. 

As  Mr.  L.  may  be  expected  every  moment,  I  will  thank  you 
to  send  back  the  papers  when  you  shall  have  done  with  them, 
and  to  suggest  whether  any  particular  line  of  conduct  must  be 
followed  with  him. 

From  the  recommendations  of  Nichols  and  Slocum,  can  any 
conjecture  be  formed  which  is  the  most  active  and  has  most 
capacity  ? 

If  equal,  the  naval  officer  would  be  preferable  to  fill  the  duties 
of  supervisor.     It  must  be  observed  that  the  present  appoint 
ments  will  be  considered  rather  as  a  burden  than  as  a  favor. 
With  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  127 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  or  THE  TREASURY,  9th  July,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — As  Mr.  Nicholas  has,  through  his  uncle,  applied 
for  the  office,  and  it  is  uncertain  whether  Mr.  Garrard  would 
take  it,  I  think  he  should  be  preferred.  The  only  objection 
which  presents  itself  is,  that  to  several  applications  the  general 
answer  has  been  given  that  lawyers  only  should  be  appointed  ; 
amongst  others,  a  gentleman  from  Carolina,  recommended  by 
Hampton,  and  who  came  here  on  purpose.  But  the  office  of 
register  for  Mobile  should  be  filled  immediately;  it  is  really 
more  pressing  than  that  of  commissioner.  Would  either  Mr. 
Garrard  or  Mr.  Nicholas  take  it  ? 

I  was  preparing,  when  I  received  yours,  an  official  letter  to 
Mr.  Clarke  on  the  subject  of  Louisiana,  but  confined,  of  course, 
to  the  objects  immediately  connected  with  this  Department,  to 
wit,  the  present  revenue,  and  particularly  that  drawn  from  duties 
on  imports  and  exports ;  and  amount  of  exports,  principally 
those  articles  which  pay  duty  on  their  importation  into  the 
United  States,  viz.,  cotton,  indigo,  and  particularly  sugar.  As 
the  revenue  we  draw  from  this  last  article  is  not  less  than  nine 
hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year,  it  is  important  to  ascertain  the 
quantity  which  is  now  annually  exported  from  New  Orleans,  in 
order  either  to  find  means  of  supplying  the  deficiency  of  reve 
nue,  if  that  article  shall  be  imported  from  thence  duty  free,  or 
to  devise  some  method  by  which  the  duty  may  still  be  collected. 
My  present  idea  was  that  until  an  amendment  to  the  Constitu 
tion  had  been  adopted,  all  the  duties  on  imports  now  payable 
in  the  United  States  should  be  likewise  paid  on  importations 
to  New  Orleans. 

All  the  duties  on  exports  now  payable  at  New  Orleans,  by 
Spanish  laws  should  cease,  and  all  articles  of  the  growth  of 
Louisiana  which,  when  imported  into  the  United  States,  now 
pay  duty,  should  continue  to  pay  the  same,  or  at  least  such  rates 
as  would,  on  the  whole,  not  affect  the  revenue. 

But  facts  are  wanted,  and  I  will  try  by  next  Monday  to  have 
such  additional  or  explanatory  queries  prepared  as  will  answer 


128  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

my  object,  and  give  them  to  be  added  to  those  you  had  pre 
pared. 

The  amendment  to  the  Constitution  is  intended,  I  presume, 
for  deliberation  and  reflection,  but  not  for  immediate  decision. 
With  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

July  12,  1803. 

The  strengthening  the  revenue  cutters  by  the  addition  of 
another  mate  and  two  hands  is  approved.  While  our  cutters 
must  be  large  enough  to  go  safely  to  sea,  and  should  be  well 
manned  for  their  size,  we  should  avoid  making  them  larger  than 
safety  will  require;  because  many  small  vessels  will  watch  the  coast 
better  than  a  few  large  ones.  Resistance  will  not  be  attempted, 
probably.  General  Muhlenberg's  idea  of  forming  the  cutters 
into  a  line  of  communication  seems  to  be  a  good  one.  I  should 
suppose  it  well  to  partition  the  whole  coast  among  them  by 
certain  limits. 

It  is  difficult  to  see  what  Mr.  Bond  would  be  at.  I  suppose 
he  aims  at  our  citizen  laws.  There  is  a  distinction  which  we 
ought  to  make  ourselves,  and  with  which  the  belligerent  powers 
ought  to  be  content.  Where,  after  the  commencement  of  a  war, 
a  merchant  of  either  comes  here  and  is  naturalized,  the  purpose 
is  probably  fraudulent  against  the  other,  and  intended  to  cloak 
their  commerce  under  our  flag.  This  we  should  honestly  dis 
countenance,  and  never  reclaim  their  property  when  captured. 
But  merchants  from  either,  settled  and  made  citizens  before  a 
war,  are  citizens  to  every  purpose  of  commerce,  and  not  to  be 
distinguished  in  our  proceedings  from  natives.  Every  attempt 
of  Great  Britain  to  enforce  her  principle  of  "once  a  subject 
and  always  a  subject"  beyond  the  case  of  her  own  subjects,  ought 
to  be  repelled.  A  copy  of  General  Muhlenberg's  letter,  stating 
the  fact  of  citizenship  accurately,  ought  to  satisfy  Mr.  Bond, 
unless  he  can  disprove  the  fact ;  or  unless,  admitting  the  fact,  he 
at  once  attacks  our  principle :  on  that  ground  we  will  meet  his 
government. 


1803.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  129 

As  to  the  patronage  of  the  Republican  bank  at  Providence,  I 
am  decidedly  in  favor  of  making  all  the  banks  Republican,  by 
sharing  deposits  among  them  in  proportion  to  the  dispositions 
they  show;  if  the  law  now  forbids  it,  we  should  not  permit 
another  session  of  Congress  to  pass  without  amending  it.  It  is 
material  to  the  safety  of  Republicanism  to  detach  the  mercantile 
interest  from  its  enemies  and  incorporate  them  into  the  body  of 
its  friends.  A  merchant  is  naturally  a  Republican,  and  can  be 
otherwise  only  from  a  vitiated  state  of  things.  Affectionate 
salutations. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIX. 

MONTICELLO,  July  25,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — We  agreed  that  the  address  of  the  ward  com 
mittees  ought  not  to  be  formally  answered.  But  on  further 
reflection  I  think  it  would  be  better  to  write  a  private  letter  to 
one  of  the  members,  in  order  that  he  may  understand  the  true 
grounds  on  which  the  subject  rests,  and  may  state  them  inform 
ally  to  his  colleagues.  I  think  these  grounds  so  solid  that  they 
cannot  fail  to  remove  this  cause  of  division  among  our  friends, 
and  perhaps  to  cure  the  incipient  schism.  Of  the  signers  of 
the  address,  I  know  only  Duane  and  Scott  sufficiently  to  address 
such  a  letter  to  them ;  and  of  these  I  am  much  more  acquainted 
with  the  first  than  the  last,  and  think  him  on  that  ground  more 
entitled  to  this  mark  of  confidence.  Some  apprehensions  may 
perhaps  be  entertained  that  if  the  schism  goes  on,  he  may  be 
in  a  different  section  from  us.  If  there  be  no  danger  in  this,  he 
is  the  one  I  should  prefer.  Give  me  your  opinion  on  it,  if  you 
please,  and  consider  and  make  any  alterations  in  the  letter  you 
think  best,  and  return  it  to  me  as  soon  as  you  can.  I  am  strongly 
of  opinion  it  will  do  good.  Accept  my  affectionate  salutations 
and  assurances  of  respect. 


VOL.  i. — 10 


130  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  !"    1803. 


[Enclosure.] 

JEFFERSON   TO   DUANE. 

MONTICELLO,  July  24;  1803. 

DEAR  Sm, — The  address  of  the  ward  committees  of  Phila 
delphia  on  the  subject  of  removals  from  office  was  received  at 
Washington  on  the  17th  inst.  I  cannot  answer  it,  because  I 
have  given  no  answer  to  the  many  others  I  have  received  from 
other  quarters.  You  are  sensible  what  use  an  unfriendly  party 
would  make  of  such  answers,  by  putting  all  their  expressions  to 
the  torture ;  and  although  no  person  wishes  more  than  I  do  to 
learn  the  opinions  of  respected  individuals,  because  they  enable 
me  to  examine  and  often  to  correct  my  own,  yet  I  am  not  satis 
fied  that  I  ought  to  admit  the  addresses  even  of  those  bodies  of 
men  which  are  organized  by  the  Constitution  (the  Houses  of 
Legislature,  for  instance)  to  influence  the  appointment  to  office, 
for  which  the  Constitution  has  chosen  to  rely  on  the  independence 
and  integrity  of  the  Executive  controlled  by  the  Senate,  chosen 
both  of  them  by  the  whole  Union,  still  less  of  those  bodies 
whose  organization  is  unknown  to  the  Constitution.  As  revolu 
tionary  instruments  (when  nothing  but  revolution  will  cure  the 
evils  of  the  state)  they  are  necessary  and  indispensable,  and  the 
right  to  use  them  is  inalienable  by  the  people ;  but  to  admit  them 
as  ordinary  and  habitual  instruments,  as  a  part  of  the  machinery 
of  the  Constitution,  would  be  to  change  that  machinery,  by  intro 
ducing  moving  powers  foreign  to  it  and  to  an  extent  depending 
solely  on  local  views,  and  therefore  incalculable.  The  opinions 
offered  by  individuals  are  of  right,  and  on  a  different  ground : 
they  are  sanctioned  by  the  Constitution ;  which  has  also  prescribed, 
when  they  choose  to  act  in  bodies,  the  organization,  objects,  and 
rights  of  those  bodies.  Although  this  view  of  the  subject  for 
bids  me,  in  my  own  judgment,  to  give  answers  to  addresses  of 
this  kind,  yet  the  one  now  under  consideration  is  couched  in 
terms  so  friendly  and  respectful,  and  from  persons  many  of 
whom  I  know  to  have  been  firm  patriots,  some  of  them  in  Revo 
lutionary  times,  and  others  in  those  of  terror,  and  doubt  not  that 
all  are  of  the  same  valuable  character,  that  I  cannot  restrain  the 


1803.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  131 

desire  that  they  should  individually  understand  the  reasons  why 
no  formal  answer  is  given;  that  they  should  see  it  proceeds 
from  my  point  of  view  of  the  Constitution  and  the  judgment  I 
form  of  my  duties  to  it,  and  not  from  a  want  of  respect  and 
esteem  for  them  or  their  opinions,  which  given  individually  will 
ever  be  valued  by  me.  I  beg  leave,  therefore,  to  avail  myself  of 
my  acquaintance  with  you  and  of  your  friendly  dispositions  to 
communicate  them  individually  the  considerations  expressed  in 
this  letter,  which  is  merely  private  and  to  yourself,  and  which  I 
ask  you  not  to  put  out  of  your  own  hands,  lest,  directly  or  by 
copy,  it  should  get  into  those  of  the  common  adversary,  and 
become  matter  for  those  malignant  perversions  which  no  senti 
ments  however  just,  no  expressions  however  correct,  can  escape. 
It  may  perhaps  at  first  view  be  thought  that  my  answer  to 
the  New  Haven  letter  was  not  within  my  own  rule ;  but  that  letter 
was  expressed  to  be  from  the  writers  individually,  and  not  as  an 
organized  body  chosen  to  represent  and  express  the  public  opinion. 
The  occasion,  too,  which  it  furnished  had  for  some  time  been 
wished  for,  of  explaining  to  the  Republican  part  of  the  nation 
my  sense  of  their  just  right  to  participation  of  office,  and  the 
proceedings  adopted  for  attaining  it  after  due  inquiry  into  the 
general  sentiments  of  the  several  States.  The  purpose  there  ex 
plained  was  to  remove  some  of  the  least  deserving  officers,  but 
generally  to  prefer  the  milder  measure  of  wraiting  till  accidental 
vacancies  should  furnish  opportunity  of  giving  to  Republicans 
their  due  proportion  of  office.  To  this  we  have  steadily  adhered. 
Many  vacancies  have  been  made  by  death  and  resignation,  many 
by  removal  for  malversation  in  office,  and  for  open,  active,  and 
virulent  abuse  of  official  influence  in  opposition  to  the  order  of 
things  established  by  the  will  of  the  nation.  Such  removals 
continue  to  be  made  on  sufficient  proof;  the  places  have  been 
steadily  filled  with  Republican  characters,  until  of  316  offices  in 
all  the  United  States  subject  to  appointment  and  removal  by  me, 
130  only  are  held  by  Federalists.  I  do  not  include  in  this  esti 
mate  the  judiciary  and  military,  because  not  removable  but  by 
established  process,  nor  the  officers  of  the  internal  revenue,  because 
discontinued  by  law,  nor  postmasters  or  any  others  not  named  by 
me.  And  this  has  been  effected  in  little  more  than  two  years,  by 


132  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

means  so  moderate  and  just  as  cannot  fail  to  be  approved  in 
future.  Whether  a  participation  of  office  in  proportion  to  num 
bers  should  be  effected  in  each  State  separately,  or  in  the  whole 
States  taken  together,  is  difficult  to  decide,  and  has  not  yet  been 
settled  in  my  own  mind.  It  is  a  question  of  vast  complications. 
But  suppose  we  were  to  apply  the  rule  to  Pennsylvania,  distinctly 
from  the  Union.  In  the  State  of  Pennsylvania  eight  offices  only 
are  subject  to  my  nomination  and  informal  removal.  Of  these, 
five  are  in  the  hands  of  Republicans,  three  of  Federalists ;  to  wit, 
Republican : 
The  Attorney,  Dallas.  Federals. 

Marshal,  Smith.  Naval  Officer. 

Collector,  Muhlenburg.  Surveyor. 

Purveyor,  Coxe.  Commissioner  of  Loans. 

Superintendent  Military  Stores,  Irving. 

In  the  hands  of  the  former  is  the  appointment  of  every  subor 
dinate  officer,  not  a  single  one  (but  their  clerks)  being  appointable 
by  the  latter.  Taking  a  view  of  this  subject  in  the  only  year  I 
can  now  come  at,  the  clerk  hire  of  the  naval  officer  and  surveyor 
is  only  $2196 ;  that  of  the  commissioner  of  loans  $2500,=$4696 ; 
the  compensation  of  the  naval  officer  and  surveyor  were  $7651 
in  that  year.  The  residue  of  custom-house  expenses  were  $46,268, 
constituting  the  compensation  and  patronage  of  the  collector, 
except  about  $1500  to  the  officers  of  the  revenue  cutter,  who  are 
Republican.  The  emoluments  and  patronage  of  the  five  other 
Republican  officers  I  have  no  materials  for  estimating;  but  they 
are  not  small.  Considering  numbers,  therefore,  as  the  ratio  of  par 
ticipation,  it  stands  at  5  to  3  ;  but,  taking  emolument  and  patron 
age  as  the  measure,  our  actual  share  is  much  greater.  I  cannot, 
therefore,  suppose  that  our  friends  had  sufficiently  examined  the 
fact  when  they  alleged  that  "  in  Philadelphia  public  employment 
under  the  general  government  in  all  its  grades,  with  scarcely  an 
exception,  is  confined  not  to  Federalists  merely,  but  to  apostates, 
persecutors,  and  enemies  of  representative  government." 

I  give  full  credit  to  the  wisdom  of  the  measures  pursued  by 
the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania  in  removals  from  office.  I  have 
no  doubt  he  followed  the  wish  of  the  State,  and  he  had  no  other 
to  consult;  but  in  the  general  government  each  State  is  to  be 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  133 

administered,  not  on  its  local  principles,  but  on  the  principles  of 
all  the  States  formed  into  a  general  result.  That  I  should  admin 
ister  the  affairs  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  for  example, 
on  Federal  principles  could  not  be  approved.  I  dare  say,  too, 
that  the  extensive  removals  from  office  in  Pennsylvania  may  have 
contributed  to  the  great  conversion  which  has  been  manifested 
among  its  citizens,  but  I  respect  them  too  much  to  believe  it  has 
been  the  exclusive  or  even  the  principal  motive.  I  presume  the 
sound  measures  of  their  government  and  of  the  general  one 
have  weighed  more  in  their  estimation  and  conversion  than  the 
consideration  of  the  particular  agents  employed. 

I  read  with  extreme  gratification  the  approbation  expressed  of 
the  general  measures  of  the  present  Administration.  I  verily 
believe  our  friends  have  not  differed  with  us  on  a  single  measure 
of  importance.  It  is  only  as  to  the  distribution  of  office  that 
some  difference  of  opinion  has  appeared,  but  that  difference  will, 
I  think,  be  lessened  when  facts  and  principles  are  more  accurately 
scanned,  and  its  impression  still  more  so  when  justice  is  done 
to  motives  and  to  the  duty  of  pursuing  that  which,  on  mature 
consideration,  is  deemed  to  be  right. 

I  hope  you  will  pardon  the  trouble  which  this  communication 
proposes  to  give  you,  when  you  attend  to  the  considerations 
urging  it,  and  that  you  will  accept  my  respectful  salutations  and 
assurances  of  great  esteem. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TREASURY, 

WASHINGTON,  July  27,  1803. 

DEAR  Sm, — I  have  not  yet  heard  whether  you  have  arrived 
safe  at  Monticello,  and  I  write  only  to  inform  you  that  I  leave 
this  city  to-day  for  New  York.  I  will  stop  in  Philadelphia  to 
treat  with  the  bank,  and  will  communicate  the  result. 

Nothing  has  taken  place,  since  you  left  this,  connected  with 
the  Treasury,  except  E.  Livingston's  journey  here.  He  called 
on  me  at  my  house,  said  nothing  of  his  defalcation,  and  left  the 


134  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATHST.  1803. 

city  two  days  after  without  calling  at  the  office.     This  compels 
me  to  take  the  commission  to  New  York,  where  I  will  fix  the 
matter.     I  have  written  on  the  subject  to  De  Witt  Clinton. 
With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSOX. 

NEW  YORK,  llth  August,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  arrived  here  after  a  long  and  tedious  journey, 
and  found  the  yellow  fever  in  the  city ;  I  did  not  stay  in  it,  and 
am  in  the  country,  two  miles  from  town. 

I  must  confess  that  I  do  not  see  the  necessity  of  writing  the 
intended  letter  to  Duane.  Unforeseen  circumstances  may  pro 
duce  alterations  in  your  present  view  of  the  subject,  and  if  you 
shall  hereafter  think  proper  to  act  on  a  plan  somewhat  different 
from  that  you  now  consider  as  the  best,  a  commitment  would 
prove  unpleasant.  Nor  is  it  probable  that  abstract  reasoning, 
or  even  a  statement  of  facts  already  known  to  them,  will  make 
converts  of  men  under  the  influence  of  passions  or  governed  by 
self-interest.  Either  a  schism  will  take  place,  in  which  case  the 
leaders  of  those  men  would  divide  from  us,  or  time  and  the  good 
sense  of  the  people  will  of  themselves  cure  the  evil.  I  have 
reason  to  believe  that  the  last  will  happen,  and  that  the  number 
of  malcontents  is  not  very  considerable,  and  will  diminish. 

Should  you,  however,  conclude  to  write,  I  think  Duane 
greatly  preferable  to  Scott.  Clay  is  his  intimate  friend,  and 
the  only  man  of  superior  weight  and  talents  who  appears  to 
be  closely  united  with  Leib  and  Duane.  Clay  will  during  the 
course  of  next  session  become  intimately  connected  with  our 
selves  and  the  majority  of  Congress ;  he  will,  I  am  confident, 
be  perfectly  reconciled  to  us,  and  feel  the  necessity,  when  all  the 
important  measures  shall  meet  with  his  approbation,  not  to 
divide  on  account  of  some  slight  difference  of  opinion  in  points 
of  trifling  comparative  importance;  and  it  is  highly  probable 
that  Duane,  who  may  be  misled  by  vanity  and  by  his  associates, 
but  whose  sincere  Republicanism  I  cannot  permit  myself  to 


1803.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  135 

doubt,  will  adhere  to  us  when  his  best  friend  shall  have  taken 
a  decided  part.  Although  I  do  not  consider  a  commitment  to 
him  eligible,  it  appears  vastly  preferable  to  one  to  Scott. 

If  a  letter  shall  be  written,  I  think  that,  if  possible,  it  should 
be  much  shorter  than  your  draft,  and  have  perhaps  less  the 
appearance  of  apology. 

The  irresistible  argument,  to  men  disposed  to  listen  to  argu 
ment,  appears  to  me  to  be  the  perfect  approbation  given  by  the 
Republicans  to  all  the  leading  measures  of  government,  and  the 
inference  that  men  who  are  disposed  under  those  circumstances 
to  asperse  Administration,  seem  to  avow  that  the  "hard  struggle 
of  so  many  years  was  not  for  the  purpose  of  securing  our  repub 
lican  institutions  and  of  giving  a  proper  direction  to  the  opera 
tions  of  government,  but  for  the  sake  of  a  few  paltry  offices, — 
offices  not  of  a  political  and  discretionary  nature,  but  mere  in 
ferior  administrative  offices  of  profit.  There  is  one  mistake 
in  your  draft:  Leonard,  the  store-keeper,  is  appointed  by  the 
Secretary  of  War,  and  not  by  the  President. 

The  information  I  have  received  respecting  E.  Livingston 
is  still  more  decisive  than  what  I  had  at  Washington ;  the  en 
closed  copy  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Osgood  will  show  that  he  is 
also  a  delinquent  on  suits  brought  by  order  of  the  supervisor. 
Mr.  Gelston  informs  me  that  he  has  not  yet  paid  the  whole  of 
the  balance  which  he  acknowledges  to  be  due  by  him,  and  he 
adds  that  he  feels  a  conviction  that  the  return  made  by  Living 
ston  is  untrue,  and  of  course  the  balance  in  his  hands  much  larger 
than  what  he  acknowledges. 

It  is  only  by  personal  application  to  the  persons  indebted  on 
bonds  put  in  suit  that  the  true  state  of  his  accounts  can  be  as 
certained  ;  this  will  be  done,  and  can  be  done  only  by  a  successor 
in  office.  I  have  sent  word  to  De  Witt  Clinton,  who  is  on  Long 
Island,  to  try  to  come  to  me  to-day  or  to-morrow.  At  all  events, 
the  commission  to  N.  Sanford  will  be  delivered  in  the  course  of 
this  week. 

I  enclose  the  answer  of  Oliver  Phelps  recommending  Robert 
Lee  as  collector  of  Niagara.  If  you  shall  approve,  and  are  still 
of  opinion  that  the  son  of  General  Irvine  is  the  proper  person 
to  be  appointed  surveyor  of  the  port  of  Buffalo  Creek,  which 


136  WKIT1NGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

is  to  be  annexed  as  a  post  of  delivery  to  the  district  of  Niagara, 
the  commissions  may  be  issued;  but  I  do  not  recollect  young 
Irvine's  Christian  name.  The  denominations  of  office  will  be, 

Collector  of  the  district  of  Niagara, 

Surveyor  of  the  port  of  Buffalo  Creek, 
and  each  of  them  must  have  another  commission,  viz., 

Inspector  of  the  revenue  for  the  port  of  Niagara. 

Do.  do.  of  Buffalo  Creek. 

It  is  also  necessary  that  you  should  determine  on  the  appli 
cation  of  T.  Reddick  for  the  office  of  register  of  the  land  office 
at  Mobile,  being  the  same  for  which  E.  Kirby  has  a  blank  com 
mission.  Will  you  be  good  enough  to  inform  me  whenever 
he  (Mr.  Kirby),  Robert  Williams,  and Nicholas,  of  Ken 
tucky,  shall  have  expressed  their  determination  to  accept  the 
offices  of  commissioners?  as  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  transmit  to 
them  some  instructions  and  to  make  the  arrangements  for  the 
payment  of  their  salary.  At  the  request  of  Dr.  Hunter,  of  Phil 
adelphia,  I  enclose  his  application,  which  may  hereafter  deserve 
attention.  The  Bank  of  the  United  States  has  immediately  and 
cheerfully  expressed  its  readiness  to  lend  us  the  1,785,000  dollars 
wanted  to  complete  the  intended  payment  of  the  American  debts 
assumed  by  the  treaty  with  France.  Mr.  Lyman,  of  Massachu 
setts,  is  a  determined  applicant  for  the  government  of  Louisiana. 
As  an  early,  decided,  active,  and  persecuted  Republican  he  has 
great  claims,  but  his  pretensions  are  high,  and  he  is  not  accom 
modating.  I  have  seen  Mr.  King,  but  in  the  presence  of  a  third 
person,  and  could  have  but  a  general  conversation.  In  the  course 
of  that  he  incidentally  mentioned  that  the  idea  of  selling  Louisi 
ana  was,  four  weeks  before  the  treaty,  assimilated  at  Paris  with 
the  sale  of  Dunkirk  by  Charles  the  Second,  and  that  Mr.  Liv 
ingston  had  not  at  that  time  the  least  expectation  of  success.  I 
will  return  his  visit  to-morrow,  and  may  obtain  some  other  infor 
mation. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


1803.  LETTEES,   ETC.  137 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  13th  August,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  this  day  received  your  favor  of  the  8th 
inst.  My  knowledge  of  the  duties  required  from  a  neutral  on 
the  particular  point  in  question  is  not  sufficient  to  throw  any 
light  on  the  subject.  It  is  important  to  confer  anything  in  the 
shape  of  an  obligation  on  the  First  Consul;  it  is  much  more 
important  to  commit  no  act  which  may  justly  be  considered  as 
a  breach  of  neutrality,  for  from  other  nations  we  want  justice 
much  more  than  favors.  Whether  the  granting  a  passage  to 
Jerome  Bonaparte  on  board  one  of  the  frigates  of  the  United 
States  may  be  fairly  considered  by  Great  Britain  as  a  deviation 
from  the  rules  of  conduct  imposed  upon  us  by  the  law  and  cus 
toms  of  nations,  is  the  point  on  which  I  cannot  form  a  precise 
opinion.  Upon  a  first  impression  I  would  rather  incline  to  the 
belief  that  it  may  be  so  considered. 

Private  vessels  may  export  contraband  articles,  but  are  liable 
to  seizure  and  condemnation.  Public  vessels  ought  not  in  any 
instance  to  do  acts  which  would  expose  private  vessels  to  just 
condemnation.  Unless  that  principle  be  admitted,  the  right  of 
the  belligerent  powers  to  search  and  send  for  adjudication  public 
vessels  of  the  neutrals  will  be  insisted  on.  Subjects  of  an  enemy, 
and  a  fortiori  officers  and  troops  of  that  enemy,  are  considered  as 
contraband.  Is  not  Jerome  Bonaparte  an  officer  in  the  service 
of  the  French  republic?  If  he  is,  may  not  the  act  of  trans 
porting  him  from  the  neutral  country  to  his  own  be  considered 
as  aiding  the  enemy  of  Great  Britain  ? 

If  you  shall  be  of  opinion  that  the  act  may  be  fairly  justified, 
I  think  it  should  be  done  though  it  may  not  please  Great  Britain. 
If  you  are  of  a  contrary  opinion,  it  should  be  refused  at  the  risk 
of  displeasing  the  First  Consul.  If  the  act  is  of  a  doubtful  nature, 
the  effect  which  granting  or  refusing  a  passage  may  have  on  both 
nations  may  become  a  proper  subject  of  consideration,  and  of 
that,  also,  I  am  unable  to  judge.  If  the  frigate  could  be  de 
spatched  before  a  formal  application  shall  be  made,  it  would  be 
much  better. 


138  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

Samuel  Bishop,  the  collector  of  New  Haven,  is  dead.  Many 
applications  will  be  made  for  the  office ;  I  think  it  my  duty  to 
state  that  if  Abraham  Bishop  can  be  trusted  in  money  matters, 
and  if  his  appointment  should  not  be  judged  to  produce  an 
unfavorable  effect  in  Connecticut,  he  has  a  strong  claim  on  the 
Treasury  Department,  having  this  summer  completed  at  my 
request  a  digest  of  all  our  revenue  laws,  which  he  understands 
better  than  any  officer  of  the  United  States. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  respect  and  attachment,  your 
obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  18,  1803. 

DEAK  SIR, — My  last  to  you  was  of  the  8th  instant;  yesterday 
I  received  your  two  favors  of  the  llth.  There  ought  to  be  no 
further  hesitation  with  E.  Livingston.  The  importation  of 
negroes  from  the  French  islands  ought  to  be  vigorously  with 
stood  ;  but  I  think  we  should  not  tread  back  our  steps  as  to  the 
reduction  of  the  size  of  our  revenue  cutters  on  bare  supposition 
that  they  will  be  resisted.  When  such  a  fact  happens,  we  may 
consider  whether  it  is  so  great  an  evil  to  oblige  those  smugglers 
to  sheer  off  to  other  countries  as  to  induce  us  to  enlarge  our 
vessels  to  bring  them  in  for  punishment,  accompanied  by  the  very 
persons  we  wish  to  exclude. 

I  readily  coincide  with  your  opinion  as  to  the  answer  to  the 
ward  committees :  besides  that  you  have  formed  it  on  a  view  of 
the  ground  and  better  knowledge  of  the  characters,  it  was  one  of 
those  measures  which  I  put  into  shape  merely  for  an  ultimate 
consideration  and  decision.  I  have  directed  commissions  for 
Robert  Lee  and  Irvine.  Mr.  Reddick  had  before  applied  to  me 
directly  to  be  register  at  Mobile,  and  through  Mr.  Baldwin,  of 
Ohio.  I  know  nothing  of  him  myself,  so  that  he  stands  on  the 
single  recommendation  of  Mr.  B.,  who  mentions  him  only  as 
qualified  as  an  accountant.  I  think  Mr.  Kirby  can  make  a  selec 
tion  on  better  information,  and  that  it  may  have  a  good  effect  to 
name  that  officer  from  among  the  inhabitants,  as  it  is  the  first 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  139 

instance.  Mr.  Kirby  accepts;  you  may  take  as  certain  that 
Robert  C.  Nicholas  will  accept.  I  have  heard  nothing  from 
Mr.  Williams.  Hunter's  application  may  be  worth  keeping  in 
view.  Mr.  Lyman's  measure  of  himself  differs  so  much  from 
ours  that  it  is  not  likely  we  shall  agree  in  a  result.  I  hope  you 
will  make  every  possible  occasion  of  getting  information  from 
King  as  to  the  views  and  dispositions  of  England,  and  of  satisfy 
ing  him  of  the  perfect  friendship  of  this  Administration  to  that 
country.  The  impressment  of  our  seamen,  and  the  using  our 
harbors  as  stations  to  sally  out  of  and  cruise  on  our  own  commerce 
as  well  as  on  that  of  our  friends,  are  points  on  which  he  can 
perhaps  give  useful  advice.  Accept  my  affectionate  salutations, 
and  assurances  of  great  esteem  and  respect. 

P.S.— I  return  Mr.  Osgood's  letter. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  20th  August,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — Since  writing  my  last,  I  have  received  the  en 
closed  ;  although  I  presume  that  application  supported  by  proper 
recommendations  has  been  made  to  you,  I  send  Mr.  Granger's 
letter,  which  was  not  personally  delivered  on  account  of  sickness 
in  his  family. 

Great  apprehension  is  entertained  at  Philadelphia  that  John 
Leib,  the  lawyer,  should  be  appointed  Clay's  successor  as  one  of 
the  board  of  commissioners  of  bankruptcy.  He  is  represented 
as  destitute  of  talents  and  integrity :  that  I  cannot  tell ;  but 
certainly  he  is  not  respectable.  As  Dallas,  Sergeant,  and  Dick 
inson  are  lawyers,  I  think  that  a  man  in  the  mercantile  line 
should  be  appointed ;  none  has  been  mentioned  to  me,  and  first- 
rate  merchants  we  have  not.  If  there  is  no  previous  promise, 
I  wish  the  appointment  might  be  delayed  till  the  time  of  our 
meeting. 

There  is  nothing  new  here;  the  fever  still  increases,  although 
more  than  one-half  of  the  inhabitants  have  left  the  city. 


140  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

I  am  told  that  E.  Livingston  is  much  irritated,  and  that  he 
has  given  notice  to  the  governor  that  whenever  the  epidemic 
had  subsided,  he  would  resign  the  mayoralty. 

With  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

A.  Bishop  has  just  left  me :  he  has  a  very  sedate  appearance, 
which,  from  what  I  had  heard  of  his  character,  I  did  not  expect. 
Before  he  mentioned  his  name  I  mistook  him  for  a  clergyman. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  18th  August,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — Messrs.  Dickinson  and  Jackson  do  not  agree  on 
the  proper  person  to  fill  the  office  of  marshal  for  West  Tennessee. 
A  court  will  be  held  on  the  fourth  Monday  of  November,  at 
which  time  it  is  desirable  that  a  new  marshal  might  act,  as  Mr. 
Hays  has  given  fresh  proofs  of  unfitness  by  drawing  again  on  me 
for  one  thousand  dollars  more  than  was  due  to  him.  I  do  not 
like,  on  that  account,  to  remit  to  him  the  sum  necessary  to  hold 
the  November  court,  having  no  doubt  that  he  will  misapply  it 
and  that  we  shall  then  be  obliged  to  institute  a  suit  against  him. 
We  may  not,  therefore,  wait  longer  than  the  end  of  October  to 
fix  on  a  successor.  The  letters  of  the  two  gentlemen  are  enclosed. 

I  do  not  perceive  any  objection  to  making  it  a  condition  of 
the  lease  of  the  Wabash  Salt  Springs  that  at  the  end  of  the 
lease  the  new  lessee  shall  be  obliged  to  pay  for  the  buildings,  as 
well  as  for  the  kettles,  at  a  fair  valuation. 

Mr.  Lincoln's  letter  recommending  a  second  mate  is  enclosed, 
and  if  you  shall  approve,  a  commission  may  issue ;  there  is  not, 
however,  any  necessity  to  decide  before  the  meeting  of  Congress. 
If  you  shall  suspend  your  determination  in  that  case,  or  in  that 
of  the  Tennessee  marshal,  I  would  thank  you  to  return  the 
letters,  which  serve  me  instead  of  memoranda  not  to  forget  the 
subject  to  which  they  relate. 

Mr.  King  seems  to  think  that  he  might  have  renewed  the 
commercial  treaty  on  conditions  satisfactory  to  America.  Great 
Britain  has  not  made  any  approach  of  late  on  that  subject ;  he 


180S.  LETTERS,   ETC.  141 

thinks  the  government  has  not  even  thought  on  the  limitation 
by  which  it  will  expire,  and  that  Mr.  Merry  will  have  no  in 
structions  on  the  subject.  He  is  of  opinion  that  in  the  East 
Indies  the  want  of  a  treaty  will  not  place  us  on  a  worse  footing ; 
that  there  is  no  danger  to  be  apprehended  on  the  subject  of  pro 
visions  being  considered  as  contraband ;  and  that  the  improve 
ment  in  the  West  India  courts  of  admiralty  will  relieve  us  from 
many  of  the  embarrassments  experienced  by  our  trade  during 
the  last  war.  The  only  ground  on  which  he  feels  any  appre 
hension  is  that  of  impressments;  and  had  he  not  been  on  the 
eve  of  his  departure,  he  might,  he  thinks,  have  succeeded  in 
making  some  arrangement ;  the  greatest  obstacle  to  this  resulted 
from  the  practical  prejudices  of  Earl  St.  Vincent.  Mr.  King 
considers  the  present  administration  in  England  as  the  most 
favorable  that  has  existed  or  can  exist  for  the  interests  of  the 
United  States,  but  he  does  not  rely  much  on  their  permanence; 
the  members  who  compose  it  are  respected  as  men  of  integrity, 
but  have  not  the  perfect  confidence  of  the  people,  nor  particu 
larly  of  London;  their  abilities  being  considered  as  unequal  to 
the  present  crisis.  Mr.  King  himself,  speaking  of  them,  whilst 
conversing  of  the  British  manifesto,  called  them  "  little  men." 
He  asked  me  who  was  to  be  his  successor ;  I  answered  that  I  pre 
sumed  either  Mr.  Livingston  or  Mr.  Monroe.  He  said  that  Mr. 
L.  would  do  very  well,  his  deafness  excepted,  which  was  a  strong 
objection.  His  British  Majesty  asked  him  twice  who  would  be 
sent,  and  expressed  his  satisfaction  in  case  Mr.  L.  was  the  man; 
but  when  he  saw  Mr.  Monroe's  name  announced  in  the  news 
papers  for  that  mission,  he  inquired  particularly  of  his  character, 
and  asked  Mr.  King  whether  he  had  not  been  opposed  to  him 
in  politics.  Upon  being  answered  that  those  differences  of  poli 
tics  had  only  been  shades  of  opinion,  and  that  Mr.  Monroe 
was  a  man  of  great  probity  and  integrity,  "  Well,  well,  if  he 
is  an  honest  man  he  will  do  very  well,"  was  the  reply ;  and  Mr. 
Hammond  assured  afterwards  Mr.  K.  that  Mr.  M.,  if  appointed, 
would  be  perfectly  well  received.  Yet  Mr.  K.  seems  to  appre 
hend  that  there  is  still  some  prevention  which  may  render  his 
situation  less  comfortable  and  his  services  less  useful  than  those 
of  another  person. 


142  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

On  the  subject  of  Louisiana  generally,  Mr.  King's  opinions, 
both  as  relate  to  New  Orleans  and  the  upper  country  west  of  the 
Mississippi,  seem  to  coincide  with  yours.  He  hinted,  however, 
that  more  advantageous  terms  might  have  been  obtained,  and 
openly  said  that  if  our  ministers  did  not  think  it  safe  to  risk  the 
object  by  insisting  on  a  reduction  of  the  price,  they  had  it  at 
least  in  their  power  to  prescribe  the  mode  of  payment;  that 
money  might  have  been  raised  in  England  on  much  more  advan 
tageous  terms  if  the  mode  had  been  left  open  to  us ;  that  [Caze- 
nove],  who  was  Talleyrand's  privy  counsel  and  financier,  must 
have  suggested  the  species  of  stock  which  was  adopted,  £c.  He 
then  asked  me  what  could  have  been  the  reason  which  induced 
our  ministers  to  agree  to  make  an  immediate  cash  payment  for 
the  American  debts,  instead  of  paying  them  in  stock  or  more 
convenient  instalments,  as  the  creditors  would  have  been  per 
fectly  satisfied  to  be  paid  that  way,  and  that  object  at  least  did 
not  seem  to  be  one  on  which  the  French  government  would  insist. 
I  told  him  that  I  really  could  not  tell,  for  I  knew  that  mode  or 
some  similar  one  had  been  contemplated  by  the  Administration, 
and  I  had  not  understood  that  any  explanation  on  that  subject 
had  been  received  from  our  ministers.  On  my  mentioning  that 
the  French  Cabinet  seemed  to  have  believed  that  the  question 
of  peace  or  war  was  in  their  power,  and  that  our  ministers,  being 
naturally  under  a  similar  impression,  might  have  been  induced 
to  yield  to  more  unfavorable  terms  than  if  they  had  contem 
plated  war  as  certain,  he  observed  that  on  the  arrival  of  every 
messenger  from  France  the  correspondence  of  Lord  Whitworth 
and  Mr.  Talleyrand  had  been  communicated  to  him  by  the 
British  Ministry,  and  that  by  the  return  of  every  messenger  he 
had  communicated  its  substance  to  Mr.  Livingston,  as  well  as 
his  opinion  of  the  certainty  of  war.  We  both  concluded  our 
conversation  on  that  subject  by  agreeing  that  Mr.  Livingston's 
precipitancy  had  been  prejudicial  to  the  United  States.  And  he 
observed  that  Florida  must  necessarily  fall  in  our  hands,  and 
that  he  hoped  too  much  impatience  would  not  be  evinced  on 
that  subject. 

I  repeated  to  him  verbatim  the  commercial  article  of  the  treaty, 
expressed  my  wish  that  it  had  been  communicated  to  him  when 


1803.  LETTEES,   ETC.  143 

he  made  his  communication  to  the  British  government,  and  asked 
whether  he  thought  that  the  article  could  possibly  create  any 
difficulty.  He  answered,  without  the  least  hesitation,  that  it 
could  not,  that  it  was  perfectly  defensible,  must  be  considered  as 
part  of  the  purchase-money,  and  expressed  his  full  conviction 
that  the  British  government  would  not  cavil  at  it.  He  observed 
that  Messrs.  Livingston  and  Monroe  had  in  their  letter  to  him 
used  the  word  "  claim/7  to  which,  in  his  letters  to  Lord  Hawkes- 
bury,  he  had  substituted  the  word  "  right."  I  was  almost  tempted 
to  believe  from  his  conversation  that  Mr.  L.  had  communicated 
the  treaty  to  him. 

On  the  subject  of  the  boundaries  of  Louisiana,  he  assures  me 
that  they  have  never  been  settled  by  any  treaty. 

The  whole  of  his  conversation  was,  as  I  expected,  in  terms 
perfectly  respectful  of  the  general  measures  you  have  adopted  in 
relation  to  foreign  nations,  the  only  subject  on  which  we  conversed. 

After  some  preliminary  apology,  he  said  he  thought  it  his  duty 
to  say  that  we  ought  to  keep  Mr.  Erving^s  accountability  under 
strict  control.  I  told  him  that  he  had  no  accounts  with  the  Treas 
ury,  but  that,  finding  that  he  was  to  receive  a  large  sum  in  July 
last  in  repayment  of  the  advances  made  by  the  United  States  for 
prosecuting  the  claims,  I  had  written  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
requesting  that  he  should  direct  Mr.  Erving  to  lodge  the  money 
either  in  bank  or  with  the  bankers  of  the  United  States,  subject 
to  the  drafts  of  the  Treasury  Department.  Mr.  King  said  that 
this  was  the  subject  he  alluded  to,  as,  without  meaning  to  insinuate 
anything  against  the  public  agent,  he  thought  it  was  better  he 
should  not  have  the  command  of  so  large  a  sum  (about  £40,000), 
that  Mr.  E.'s  father  was  extravagant  and  had  entered  into  some 
silly  speculations,  by  one  of  which  he  had  lately  lost  several 
thousand  pounds.  I  have  not  been  informed  of  the  steps 
taken  by  Mr.  Madison  on  that  subject,  and  will  thank  you  to 
communicate  this  to  him. 

Mr.  King  lent  me  the  rescript  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia 
offering  his  mediation.  It  is  too  long  to  be  transcribed.  Although 
he  says  in  one  place  "qu'il  avoit  dej&  charge  une  fois  son  ministre 
de  communiquer  ses  sentimens  au  Gouvernement  Frangois  sur  la 
necessity  qu'il  y  aurait  de  faire  cesser  diverses  causes  d'inquietude, 


144  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

qui  agitoient  les  cabinets  de  PEurope,"  I  should  think,  from  the 
whole  tenor  of  that  document,  that  he  will  not  approve  the 
grounds  on  which  England  has  placed  the  renewal  of  the  war. 
Amongst  the  twelve  and  half  millions  sterling  new  taxes  proposed 
by  Mr.  Addington,  I  remark  that  of  one  per  cent,  on  manufac 
tures  exported  to  Europe,  and  of  three  per  cent,  on  those  exported 
to  the  other  parts  of  the  world.  On  a  moderate  computation, 
this  will  be  a  tax  on  the  United  States  of  six  hundred  thousand 
dollars  a  year;  for  English  manufactures,  against  which  no  other 
can  enter  into  competition,  are  consumed  in  the  United  States  to 
the  amount  of  twenty  millions  of  dollars.  The  blockade  of  the 
port  of  Hamburg  will  materially  affect  us  until  another  channel 
of  communication  can  be  opened  with  the  north  of  Europe ;  the 
prices  of  American  and  West  India  produce  being  low  and 
unsteady  in  England. 

With  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

Mr.  Sanford  received  his  commission  last  Monday.     I  have 
neither  seen  nor  heard  from  E.  Livingston. 


JEFFERSON  TO]  GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  23,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  favors  of  August  13  and  15  were  received 
yesterday.  The  appointment  of  a  successor  to  Samuel  Bishop 
must  await  our  reassembling  at  Washington.  I  enclose  you  the 
late  letters  of  Livingston  and  Monroe  for  consideration,  and  to 
be  returned  to  me  when  perused.  You  will  find  that  the  French 
government,  dissatisfied  perhaps  with  their  late  bargain  with  us, 
will  be  glad  of  a  pretext  to  declare  it  void.  It  will  be  necessary, 
therefore,  that  we  execute  it  with  punctuality  and  without  delay. 
I  have  desired  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  so  to  make  his  arrange 
ments  as  that  an  armed  vessel  shall  be  ready  to  sail  on  the  31st 
of  October  with  the  ratification,  and,  if  possible,  with  the  stock 
to  France;  if  the  latter  can  be  got  through  both  Houses  in 
that  time  it  will  be  desirable.  Would  it  not  be  well  that  you 


1803.  LETTERS,    ETC.  145 

should  have  a  bill  ready  drawn  to  be  offered  on  the  first  or  second 
day  of  the  session  ?  It  will  be  well  to  say  as  little  as  possible  on 
the  constitutional  difficulty,  and  that  Congress  should  act  on  it 
without  talking.  I  subjoin  what  I  think  a  better  form  of  amend 
ment  than  the  one  I  communicated  to  you  before.  I  have  been, 
with  the  aid  of  my  books  here,  investigating  the  question  of  the 
boundaries  of  Louisiana,  and  am  satisfied  our  claim  to  the  Perdido 
is  solid,  and  to  the  Bay  of  St.  Bernard  very  argumentative.  I 
observe  that  Monroe  and  Livingston  are  clear  in  our  right  to  the 
Perdido.  How  would  it  do  to  annex  all  Louisiana  east  of  the 
Mississippi  to  the  Mississippi  Territory,  and  all  west  of  that  river, 
below  the  mouth  of  Arcansa,  establish  into  a  separate  territorial 
government  ?  Accept  my  affectionate  salutations  and  assurances 
of  esteem  and  respect. 

"  Louisiana  as  ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States  is  made 
a  part  of  the  United  States.  Its  white  inhabitants  shall  be  citi 
zens,  and  stand,  as  to  their  rights  and  obligations,  on  the  same 
footing  with  other  citizens  of  the  United  States  in  analogous 
situations.  Save  only  that  as  to  the  portion  thereof  lying  north 
of  the  latitude  of  the  mouth  of  Arcansa  River  no  new  State 
shall  be  established,  nor  any  grants  of  land  made  therein,  other 
than  to  Indians  in  exchange  for  equivalent  portions  of  lands 
occupied  by  them,  until  an  amendment  of  the  Constitution  shall 
be  made  for  these  purposes. 

"  Florida  also,  whensoever  it  may  be  rightfully  obtained,  shall 
become  a  part  of  the  United  States.  Its  white  inhabitants  shall 
thereupon  be  citizens,  and  shall  stand,  as  to  their  rights  and 
obligations,  on  the  same  footing  with  other  citizens  of  the  United 
States  in  analogous  situations." 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 


NEW  YORK,  31st  August,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  favor  of  the  23d  and  its  enclosures  were 
received  day  before  yesterday.  A  bill  shall  be  prepared  for  the 
purpose  of  carrying  the  treaty,  &c.,  into  effect;  but  neither  can 


VOL.  i. — 11 


146  WE  I  TINGS    OF    GALL  AT  IN.  1803. 

you  expect  that  the  House  will  take  up  the  subject  before  a 
ratification,  or  decide  without  much  debate  and  opposition ; 
nor  is  it  possible  to  have  the  certificates  of  stock  prepared  until 
Baring  shall  arrive  and  the  form  mutually  agreed  on.  I  write 
to  Philadelphia  in  order  to  have  the  proper  paper,  copper-plate 
engravings,  and  other  devices  necessary  to  prevent  counterfeits, 
immediately  prepared,  but  the  printing  cannot  be  executed  until 
the  form  shall  have  been  prepared ;  this  must  express  the  nature 
of  the  stock,  the  law  by  virtue  of  which  issued,  and,  what  can 
not  be  done  without  Baring's  consent,  the  mode  of  transferring 
the  stock,  the  place  where  the  interest  is  payable,  the  mode  of 
paying  it,  and  the  rate  of  exchange,  all  of  which  is  left  inde 
terminate  in  the  convention,  the  rate  of  exchange  with  Paris  only 
excepted. 

The  moment  he  or  his  agent  shall  arrive  we  will  agree  on  a 
form,  and  have  the  printing  part  executed  and  the  blanks  filled, 
but  we  cannot  proceed  to  signing  till  after  the  law  shall  have 
passed. 

For  the  sake  of  making  the  stock  negotiable,  it  must  be  in 
certificates  of  a  moderate  sum,  not  certainly  more  than  one  thou 
sand  dollars  each  on  an  average. 

This  will  produce  eleven  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty  cer 
tificates  to  be  signed  by  one  person,  and  that  person  (the  Register) 
an  officer  who  has  other  papers  daily  to  compare  and  attest.  The 
certificates  must  afterwards,  and  before  they  issue,  be  compared, 
checked,  &c.  It  will  be  extraordinary  despatch  if  they  can  be 
prepared  for  delivery  within  twenty  days  after  the  passing  of  the 
law.  You  may,  however,  rely  on  my  exertions,  and  that  every 
means  which  may  accelerate  the  completion  of  the  stock  shall  be 
adopted. 

But  whilst  it  is  proper  to  be  ready  to  act  on  the  ground  you 
have  suggested,  there  is  a  strong  objection  to  our  sending  the 
stock ;  it  is  not  merely  because  the  Executive  will  thereby  assume 
a  responsibility  not  contemplated  by  the  convention,  the  delivery 
of  the  stock  being,  by  that  instrument,  made  an  act  subsequent 
to  the  possession  of  Louisiana,  but  because  we  ought  to  insist 
that  the  delivery  of  the  stock  here  within  the  three  months  to 
the  person  duly  authorized  is  a  good  fulfilment  of  the  conven- 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  147 

tion ;  there  is  no  doubt  of  its  being  such  both  by  the  letter  and 
the  spirit  of  the  instrument;  and  if  we  assent  to  a  contrary 
construction,  we  become  responsible  for  the  delivery  in  Europe 
within  the  three  months,  render  ourselves  liable  for  the  accidents 
of  transmission  and  for  those  very  delays  which,  if  France  seeks 
for  a  pretence  of  breaking  the  contract,  may  be  used  by  her  for 
that  purpose. 

The  condition  that  the  stock  shall  be  transmitted  by  us  to  our 
minister  at  Paris  is  not  a  part  of  our  agreement,  but  of  the  con 
tract  between  the  French  government  and  Baring,  to  which  we 
are  not  parties,  and  was  inserted  in  this  for  the  benefit  and  se 
curity  of  that  government,  who  did  not  wish  to  trust  the  Barings 
and  Hopes  with  the  whole  of  the  stock  at  once.  We  must,  as 
I  mentioned  before,  make  every  previous  preparation  in  order  to 
be  able  to  adopt  in  October  that  mode  which,  upon  due  consider 
ation,  will  appear  the  safest ;  but  the  transmission  by  us  and  at 
our  risk  does  not,  in  my  present  view  of  the  subject,  appear  an 
eligible  measure. 

I  feel  not,  however,  any  apprehension  that  France  intends 
seriously  to  raise  objections  to  the  execution  of  the  treaty ;  unless 
intoxicated  by  the  hope  of  laying  England  prostrate,  or  allured 
by  some  offer  from  Spain  to  give  a  better  price  for  Louisiana  than 
we  have  done,  it  is  impossible  that  Bonaparte  should  not  con 
sider  his  bargain  as  so  much  obtained  for  nothing ;  for,  however 
valuable  to  us,  it  must  be  evident  to  him  that  pending  the  war 
he  could  not  occupy  Louisiana,  and  that  the  war  would  place  it 
very  soon  in  other  hands.  A  temporary  uneasiness  may  indeed 
have  existed  from  various  causes ;  the  communication  of  the 
substance  of  the  treaty  to  England  and  the  manner  in  which  it 
was  received  may  have  frustrated  the  hopes  of  the  First  Consul 
of  a  misunderstanding  or  coolness  between  us  and  that  country ; 
he  may  have  been  disappointed  on  finding  that  instead  of  sixty  he 
would  receive  only  forty-five  millions  for  Louisiana ;  for  although 
I  have  no  doubt  of  the  negotiation  with  Baring  having  been  part 
of  our  own,  I  am  confident  that  Mr.  Monroe  was  not  privy  to 
it,  and  it  is  very  probable  that  that  part  of  the  transaction  was 
not  unfolded  to  Bonaparte  until  after  the  signature  of  the  treaty ; 
and  it  is  not  impossible  that  the  French  government  wants  only 


148  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIX.  1803, 

to  guard  against  the  danger  of  our  taking  possession  immediately 
after  the  exchange  of  ratifications  and  of  Congress  afterwards 
refusing  to  comply  with  our  part  of  the  agreement. 

I  think  it,  however,  more  probable  that  the  uneasiness  which 
the  letters  of  our  ministers  are  calculated  to  create  has  its 
origin  with  Baring  or  Livingston,  or  perhaps  with  both.  The 
anxiety  of  the  first  that  a  convention  by  which  he  and  his  asso 
ciates  will  gain  near  three  millions  of  dollars  should  not  fail  in 
its  execution,  and  the  wish  of  the  other  that  no  modifications 
should  be  made  by  Congress  in  the  mode  of  settling  and  paying 
the  American  claims,  as  well  as  a  natural  desire  to  persuade  us 
that  he  has  made  a  most  excellent  bargain,  would  lead  both  to 
represent  every  trifling  occurrence  as  a  proof  that  if  we  did  not 
hasten  the  completion  of  every  part  of  the  transaction  we  might 
lose  the  object. 

What  persuades  me  of  the  desire  of  France  that  the  treaty 
should  be  carried  into  effect  is  what  they  have  already  done  towards 
it.  The  treaty  is  signed  as  of  the  30th  April ;  the  powers  of 
Sir  Francis  Baring  are  dated  London,  3d  May ;  the  official  prop 
osition  of  Alexander  Baring  to  the  French  government  is  dated 
Paris,  2d  May.  These  propositions  were  communicated  to  our 
ministers  by  Mr.  Marbois  on  the  4th  of  May.  On  the  10th  of 
the  same  month  Mr.  Marbois  wrote  to  them  the  letter  in  which 
he  states  that  any  extraordinary  delay  in  making  the  payments 
stipulated  beyond  the  three  months  fixed  by  the  convention 
would  place  the  contracting  parties  in  the  same  situation  in  which 
they  were  before  treating.  Observe  here  that  by  Baring's  prop 
osition  and  contract  the  dates  of  the  payments  he  is  to  make  to 
France  are  determined  by  that  of  the  delivery  and  transmission 
of  the  stock ;  the  first  payment  by  him  at  Paris  being  within 
thirty  days  after  advice  being  received  there  of  the  delivery  of 
one-third  part  of  the  stock  to  his  agent  in  America,  and  of  the 
transmission  of  the  remainder  to  our  minister  at  Paris.  On 
the  22d  May,  Bonaparte  ratified  the  convention.  On  the  28th 
May  our  ministers  answered  Mr.  Marbois's  letter  of  the  4th, 
stating  that  they  saw  no  objection  to  the  contract.  On  the  2d 
June  they  answered  his  letter  of  the  10th  May.  On  what  day 
Bonaparte  ratified  the  contract  with  Baring  does  not  appear. 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  149 

The  attestation  of  Talleyrand  and  that  of  our  ministers  that  the 
signature  of  Maret  (the  Secretary  of  State),  which,  as  well  as 
that  of  Marbois  and  of  Bonaparte,  is  affixed  to  the  instrument, 
is  his  own,  and  that  the  act  must  be  considered  as  that  of  the 
French  government,  bears  date  the  6th  June.  The  letter  of 
our  minister,  to  which  Mr.  Livingston  adds  that  it  has  been 
agreed  to  withdraw  the  letters  of  10th  May  and  2d  of  June, 
is  dated  7th  June. 

A  comparison  of  those  dates  shows  that  the  ratification  of  the 
convention  and  that  of  the  contract  were  deliberate  acts,  both 
done  several  days  after  writing  that  letter  of  the  10th  May 
which  had  given  the  alarm,  and  followed  by  the  act  of  with 
drawing  that  very  letter.  The  period  which  elapsed  between 
the  two  letters  of  Marbois  of  4th  and  10th  May  and  their  being 
answered  is  indeed  an  evidence  of  a  state  of  some  uncertainty, 
arising  most  probably  from  the  negotiation  with  Baring  not 
being  liked  by  the  Consul;  but  it  is  extraordinary  that  the 
letters  written  during  that  interval  by  Mr.  Monroe,  on  the  18th 
and  23d  May,  show  no  anxiety  on  the  subject ;  nay,  that  silence 
was  kept  respecting  that  point  by  the  ministers  in  their  letter 
of  the  13th  which  accompanied  the  treaty,  and  that  Mr.  Monroe 
evinces  no  uneasiness  till  his  short  letter  of  the  2d  June.  Was 
he  not  kept  in  the  dark  all  the  time  that  any  real  ground  of 
uneasiness  might  exist,  and  informed  of  it,  and  his  anxiety  as 
well  as  ours  excited,  only  when  there  was  no  longer  any  reason  of 
alarm  ? 

I  write  to  you  as  if  you  had  Baring's  contract,  because  the 
ministers  say  it  is  enclosed  in  their  letter.  I  have  received  it  from 
Baring  himself,  accompanied  by  a  letter  of  the  7th  June,  brought 
by  Mr.  Jay,  but  which  went  round  to  Washington,  in  which  he 
says  that  he  will  sail  within  a  month  for  the  United  States  for 
the  purpose  of  agreeing  on  the  preliminary  arrangements. 

I  am  transcribing  the  contract  and  some  letters  relative  to  it, 
and  will  transmit  it  to  you  officially,  as  I  think  it  my  duty  to 
leave  on  record  in  the  office  proofs  that  the  low  price  at  which 
that  stock  has  been  sold  (78  J  per  cent.)  is  not  ascribable  to  the 
state  of  public  credit  nor  to  any  act  of  your  Administration,  and 
particularly  of  the  Treasury  Department. 


150  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

I  agree  with  you  that  we  have  a  right  to  claim  that  part  of 
West  Florida  which  was  part  of  Louisiana;  I  was  of  a  different 
opinion,  but  am  now  convinced. 

AVith  great  respect  and  sincere  attachment,  your  obedient 
servant. 

P.S. — On  reading  again  Mr.  Livingston's  post-scriptum,  I  see 
that  by  the  instructions  to  Mr.  Pichon,  the  French  government 
agrees  that  provided  that  the  stock  shall  be  created  within  the 
three  months  it  will  be  a  fair  execution  of  the  treaty.  By  that 
instrument  it  was  agreed  that  the  delivery  of  New  Orleans  should 
immediately  follow  the  exchange  of  ratifications,  without  any 
provision  being  made  for  the  concurrence  of  Congress,  which  is 
necessary  for  the  creation  of  the  stock. 

There  can  be  no  objection  to  agreeing  on  our  part  with  Mr. 
Pichon  that  he  shall  not  deliver  the  order  for  taking  possession 
of  New  Orleans  until  Congress  shall,  by  law,  have  created  the 
stock ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  we  ought  to  insist  on  not  delivering 
the  stock  until  the  place  is  in  our  possession.  With  expresses, 
and  provided  that  every  previous  step  has  been  taken  to  take 
possession  on  a  day's  warning,  this  will  not  cause  a  delay  of  more 
than  six  weeks.  For  fear  that  Baring's  contract  has  not  reached 
you,  I  add  its  substance. 

1.  The  French  government  to  deliver  to  the  agent  of  the 
houses  of  Hope  and  Baring  an  act  authorizing  the  American 
government  to  transfer  to  the  said  houses  or  to  their  representa 
tives  the  11,250,000  dollars  American  stock. 

2.  The  American  government  may  deliver  directement  to  the 
attorney  of  the  said  houses  one-third  of  the  said  stock,  amount 
ing  to  3,750,000  dollars,  and  shall  send  the  remaining  7,500,000 
dollars  to  their  minister  at  Paris,  to  be  kept  by  him  as  a  deposit 
pursuant  to  the  following  conditions. 

3.  Hope  and  Baring  shall  pay  to  the  Treasury  of  France  in 
full  for  the  said  stock,  and  reserving  to  themselves  the  interests 
and  profits  accruing  from  said  stock,  the  sum  of  52  millions  of 
francs,  viz.,  six  millions  within  the  thirty  days  following  the  re 
ception  at  Paris  of  an  official  notice  that  one-third  of  the  stock 
has  been  delivered  to  the  agent  of  said  houses,  and  that  the  other 


1803.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  151 

two-thirds  have  been  sent  to  France,  and  two  millions  monthly 
during  each  succeeding  month,  until  the  payment  of  the  52  mil 
lions  shall  have  been  completed. 

4.  Bills  of  exchange  to  the  amount  of  52  millions  of  francs, 
drawn  by  Baring  on  Hope,  accepted  by  Hope  and  endorsed  by 
Alexander  Baring,  but  leaving  the  date  of  payment  in  blank, 
shall  without  delay  be  deposited  in  the  hands  of  the  American 
minister  at  Paris,  who  shall,  in  concert  with  the  French  Min 
ister  of  Finance,  fill  the  blanks  in  conformity  to  the  preceding 
article. 

5.  On  receipt  of  the  official  notice  mentioned  in  3d  Article, 
the  American  minister  at  Paris  shall  deliver  to  the  French  gov 
ernment  seventeen  millions  five  hundred  thousand  livres  of  the 
said  bills,  and  shall  keep  as  a  deposit  the  remainder  of  said  bills 
and  the  7,500,000  dollars  American  stock  sent  to  him  by  the 
American  government.      Thirty  days  before  the  completion  of 
the  payment  by  Hope  of  the  first  bills  thus  delivered  to  the 
French  government,  the  American  minister  shall  deliver  to  the 
French  government  17  millions  more  of  Baring  and  Hope's  bills, 
and  to  the  agent  of  Baring  and  Hope  one-half  of  the  American 
stock  in  his  hands,  viz.,  3,750,000  dollars. 

The  remainder  of  the  bills  and  stock  shall  be  likewise  delivered 
by  him  to  the  parties  respectively  one  month  before  the  comple 
tion  of  the  payment  of  the  second  set  of  bills  by  Hope. 

As  during  the  same  two  years  which  is  fixed  for  the  comple 
tion  of  the  payment  of  52  millions  to  France  by  Hope  and  Baring 
these  houses  will  receive  from  the  United  States  7,200,000  francs 
for  interest,  they  will  have  to  pay  in  fact  no  more  than  45  millions 
for  the  sixty  millions  stock,  which,  after  making  the  allowances 
for  interest  and  discount,  amounts  to  78J  per  cent,  for  the  real 
price  they  give  for  that  stock.  At  that  period  our  old,  worthless 
six  per  cent,  stock,  which  is  nothing  more  than  a  short  annuity, 
was  in  America  at  97,  and  in  England  at  91 ;  our  three  was  in 
England  at  58 ;  our  Dutch  5  per  cent,  was  at  Amsterdam  at  99, 
and  our  Antwerp  4}  per  cent.,  redeemable  at  will,  was  at  this 
last  place  at  99  J.  Add  to  this  that  the  Barings  were  bidders  for 
Mr.  Addington's  ten  millions  sterling  loan,  which  they  did  not  get, 
but  for  which  they  offered  to  take  the  English  three  per  cent,  at 


152  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

the  then  market  price  with  a  premium  of  only  3  per  cent. ;  and 
our  threes  were  in  England  worth  one  per  cent,  more  at  market 
than  the  English. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  5th  September,  1803. 

DEAR,  SIR, — I  receive  this  moment  your  favor  of  30th  ult. 
I  am  very  decidedly  of  opinion  that  Abraham  Bishop  ought  to 
be  appointed  collector  of  New  Haven. 

I  enclose  more  letters  from  Simons  on  the  subject  of  the  in 
fractions  committed  on  our  neutrality ;  but  am  afraid  that  he 
took  wrong  ground  in  the  case  of  the  Cotton  Planter,  as  it  seems 
she  was  taken  within  our  own  limits,  in  which  case  she  ought  to 
have  been  claimed  whether  British  or  American  property.  But 
I  really  believe  that  it  will  be  necessary  to  frame  a  new  circular 
to  the  collectors,  bringing  all  former  instructions  into  one  point 
of  view,  with  such  alterations  as  either  result  from  a  change  in 
our  treaties,  or  may  appear  eligible  on  general  grounds.  It  will, 
however,  be  well  to  consider  whether  it  may  not  be  best  to  give 
such  circular  its  effect  only  after  the  expiration  of  those  articles 
of  the  British  treaty  which  cease  within  two  years  after  the 
signature  of  the  preliminaries  of  the  late  peace. 

I  enclose  an  extract  of  a  letter  from  Mr.  Marbois  received 
this  day,  and  in  which  I  do  not  discover  anything  more  than 
the  desire  of  obtaining  as  early  a  payment  as  possible. 

Permit  me  to  suggest  the  ,  propriety  of  having  everything  in 
readiness  to  take  possession  of  New  Orleans,  whether  the  prefect 
and  Spanish  officers  shall  be  willing  to  give  it  up  or  not,  the 
moment  we  shall  have  received  the  order  to  that  effect  from  Mr. 
Pichon;  this  is  recommended  by  the  possible  event  of  our  de 
livering  the  stock  on  receiving  only  the  order  to  take  possession, 
and  before  actual  possession  shall  have  been  obtained.  The  dis- 
ponible  regular  force  at  Fort  Adams,  the  militia  of  the  Mississippi 
Territory,  and  the  crews  of  the  Kentucky  boats  and  of  American 
vessels  from  the  Atlantic  States  then  in  New  Orleans,  will  be 
sufficient  against  any  force  now  in  that  place,  provided  that  we 


1803.  LETTERS,    ETC.  153 

may  arm  the  boatmen  and  sailors,  and  provided  that  the  French 
militia  of  Louisiana  be  disposed  to  be  at  least  neutral. 

Although  I  do  not  share  in  the  alarm  of  our  ministers,  I 
think  it  wise  to  be  as  perfectly  prepared  as  if  it  had  a  real 
ground,  and  that  no  time  should  be  lost  in  having  a  supply  of 
arms  at  Natchez;  instructions  given  to  Governor  Claiborne;  and 
Clark,  if  he  can  be  trusted  to  that  extent,  informed  by  a  safe 
communication  of  our  intentions,  with  instructions  to  prepare 
the  way  with  the  inhabitants  so  as  to  meet  no  opposition  from 
them. 

The  establishment  of  expresses  both  by  Hawkins  and  Nash 
ville  if  practicable,  and  at  all  events  by  the  last  route,  seems 
also  desirable.  If  there  is  any  apprehension  that  that  force  may 
not  ultimately  be  sufficient,  such  part  of  the  militia  of  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee  as  may  be  thought  necessary  might  be  ordered, 
under  the  Act  of  last  session,  to  be  in  a  state  of  readiness  to 
float  down  the  river  on  the  arrival  of  an  express  from  Clai 
borne  applying  for  such  aid. 

If  it  shall  be  found  necessary  to  take  possession  of  New 
Orleans  against  the  will  of  the  possessors,  there  can  be  no  doubt 
of  the  propriety  of  occupying  at  the  same  time  that  part  of  West 
Florida  which  we  claim.  But  if  New  Orleans  and  West  Loui 
siana  shall  be  yielded  without  difficulty,  the  policy  of  occupying 
the  rest  of  what  we  claim  against  the  will  of  the  Spanish  officers 
is  a  subject  which  deserves  serious  consideration. 

With  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  16th  September,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  not  heard  from  you  for  a  long  while,  not 
since  I  returned  the  letters  of  our  ministers  at  Paris  and  for 
warded  the  copy  of  Mr.  Marbois's  letter  and  some  letters  from 
Simons.  I  trust  that  this  is  not  owing  to  want  of  health,  but 
feel  somewhat  uneasy,  as  I  have  not  even  received  any  indirect 


154  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

account  of  you.  I  had  waited  for  your  opinion  of  the  proper 
answer  to  Mr.  Marbois,  but  have  in  the  mean  while  sketched  a 
very  general  answer,  which  I  enclose  for  your  consideration. 

Finding  difficulties  in  copper  engraving  which  might  have 
created  delays,  I  have  concluded  to  have  all  the  certificates  merely 
printed  at  Washington,  and  have  directed  the  Register  to  take  all 
the  necessary  measures  to  have  the  whole  printed  within  ten  days 
after  notice  given  to  the  printers,  so  that  the  moment  Mr.  Baring 
arrives  and  the  form  of  the  certificates  shall  have  been  agreed  on, 
the  whole  may  be  executed  at  once.  You  may,  therefore,  rely 
that  the  whole  will  be  ready  for  delivery  the  day  that  a  law  shall 
have  been  passed  to  carry  the  convention  into  eifect. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  John  Pintard,  who  resided  some  time 
at  New  Orleans,  on  the  subject  of  Louisiana.  He  is  certainly 
mistaken  as  to  the  population  of  the  province,  but  some  of  his 
hints  may  be  of  service.  Being  disappointed  in  horses,  having 
lost  one  on  the  road,  and  the  fever  here  and  in  Philadelphia 
having  deranged  the  usual  travelling  resources,  I  do  not  think 
that  I  will  be  able  to  leave  this  before  the  22d  instant  or  arrive 
in  the  city  before  the  30th.  So  far  as  relates  to  my  own  office, 
this  short  delay  will  not  be  attended  with  any  inconvenience,  as 
I  have  received  here  and  am  arranging  the  documents  necessary 
for  Congress. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

October  3,  1803. 

Th.  Jefferson  asks  the  favor  of  Mr.  Gallatin  to  examine  with 
rigor  the  enclosed  project  of  the  message  to  Congress,  and  to  note 
on  a  separate  paper  the  alterations  he  thinks  advantageous.  As 
it  is  to  go  through  the  hands  of  the  other  gentlemen  of  the 
Cabinet,  his  immediate  attention  to  it  is  desirable.  He  also  asks 
the  favor  of  Mr.  Gallatin  to  meet  the  heads  of  Department  here 
to-morrow  at  ten  o'clock. 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  155 

[Memoranda  by  Mr.  Gallatin :] 

European  war. — May  not  the  idea  of  our  having  so  happily 
escaped,  by  the  success  of  the  late  negotiation,  becoming  parties 
to  it,  be  mentioned  ? 

Menace  of  interdicting  intercourse  too  early  and  unprovoked. 
— Add  that  treaties  of  commerce  oppose  it. 

Conventions  for  limits  with  Great  Britain,  why  not  mentioned. 
— Neutral  passions. 

Finance  to  precede  "  War  in  Europe,"  and  perhaps  some  parts 
of  the  two  paragraphs  of  War  and  Neutrality  blended  as  similar. 

Period — what  ?  of  representations  or  of  restoration  of  deposit? 

Propositions  had  been  authorized — when?  prior  to  that  period? 
Quere. 

Subsequent  appropriation — to  what?  to  the  authorization  of 
propositions  by  Executive  ? 

Enlightened  mind  of  First  Consul. 

Treaties  now  laid  before  both  Houses. 

Introduce  idea  of  possession  of  New  Orleans  being  a  bond  of 
union,  and,  if  possible,  of  prevention  of  early  settlements  beyond 
Mississippi. 

Authorization  from  Legislature  to  take  possession.  Is  it  neces 
sary  ?  Will  it  not  delay  ? 

Omit  road  as  not  of  equal  importance,  and  perhaps  Missouri. 

Then  add  after  paragraph  "for  confirming  to  Indians  their 
rights"  this :  "  to  establish  friendly  relations  with  them." 

Omit  three  paragraphs  commencing  "Authority  from  the 
Legislature"  and  ending  "  diligence  and  fidelity,"  and  incorporate 
their  substance  with  the  preceding. 

Recommendation  to  open  for  settlement  the  Kaskaskia  country 
doubtful  unless  connected  with  that  of  preference  to  settlements 
on  this  side  of  Mississippi. 

Laying  treaty  before  ratification  before  Congress  doubtful. 

Tripoli — small  vessels  will  be  able,  &c.,  add,  "  with  less  ex 
pense." 


156  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

REMARKS  ON  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE. 
1803. 

[Received  October  4.] 

Louisiana. — 1st.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  treaty  ought  not  to 
be  laid  before  both  Houses  of  Congress  until  after  ratification 
by  Senate.  The  rights  of  Congress  in  its  legislative  capacity  do 
not  extend  to  making  treaties,  but  only  to  giving  or  refusing 
their  sanction  to  those  conditions  which  come  within  the  powers 
granted  by  the  Constitution  to  Congress.  The  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  neither  can  nor  ought  to  act  on  the  treaty  until  after 
it  is  a  treaty ;  and  if  that  be  true,  no  time  will  be  gained  by  an 
earlier  communication  to  that  body.  In  asserting  the  rights  of 
the  House,  great  care  should  be  taken  to  do  nothing  which  might 
be  represented  as  countenancing  any  idea  of  encroachment  of  the 
constitutional  rights  of  the  Senate.  If,  in  order  to  be  enabled 
to  carry  on  a  negotiation,  the  Executive  wants  a  previous  grant 
of  money  or  other  legislative  act,  as  in  the  Algerine  treaty,  some 
Indian  treaties,  and  last  session  (2)  two  millions  appropriation, 
an  application  may  be  necessary  before  the  negotiation  is  opened 
or  the  treaty  held ;  but  when,  as  in  the  present  case,  the  nego 
tiation  has  been  already  closed  and  the  treaty  signed,  no  neces 
sity  exists  to  consult  or  communicate  to  the  House  until  the 
instrument  shall  have  been  completed  by  the  Senate  and  Presi 
dent's  ratification :  in  this  instance  there  is  no  apparent  object 
for  the  communication  but  a  supposition  that  they  may  act,  or, 
in  other  words,  express  their  opinion  and  give  their  advice  on 
the  inchoate  instrument,  which  is  at  that  very  time  constitu 
tionally  before  the  Senate. 

2d.  There  is  some  ambiguity  in  that  paragraph  about  the 
period  previous  to  which  propositions  for  obtaining  New  Orleans 
had  been  authorized.  I  presume  that  by  that  period  is  meant, 
not  the  time  when  representations  were  made  to  Spain  respecting 
the  deposit,  but  that  when  the  deposit  was  restored.  Quere,  also, 
whether  the  appropriation  of  two  millions  was  subsequent  to 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  157 

the  time  when  those  propositions,  for  obtaining  New  Orleans 
and  adjacent  territories,  w^ere  authorized. 

3d.  Although  the  personal  compliment  to  the  First  Consul  may 
be  pleasing  to  him,  and  on  that  account  consistent  with  policy, 
yet  it  is  doubtful  whether  it  should  not  be  omitted,  because  it 
will  produce  an  opposite  effect  in  Great  Britain,  because  he  is 
certainly  very  unpopular  with  all  parties  and  descriptions  of 
men  in  the  United  States,  and  because,  if  my  memory  serves  me 
right,  personal  compliments  to  foreign  sovereigns  are  not  usual 
anywhere  in  communications  from  the  Executive  to  the  nation 
except  under  very  particular  circumstances.  Perhaps  something 
more  general  might  be  substituted,  showing  still  our  sense  of  the 
motives  which  actuated  or  which  it  may  be  proper  to  ascribe  to 
France,  and  applying  what  we  may  say  to  the  French  govern 
ment  rather  than  to  the  Consul  himself. 

4th.  In  enumerating  the  advantages  resulting  from  the  acqui 
sition  of  Louisiana,  the  most  obvious,  that  of  securing  the  ad 
vantages  of  navigation  and  outlet  to  the  Western  States,  which 
is  the  subject  of  the  preceding  part  of  the  paragraph,  might 
perhaps  without  inconvenience  be  repeated  next  to  or  preceding 
that  of  securing  us  from  collision  with  foreign  nations.  But 
there  is  another  which,  if  it  does  really  proceed  from  that  event, 
ought  not  to  be  omitted,  viz.,  that  the  acquisition  of  New  Orleans 
is  a  most  solid  bond  of  the  Union. 

Another  delicate  and  difficult  subject  to  introduce,  but  which, 
if  it  could  be  touched,  would  tend  to  remove  the  only  objection 
which,  so  far  as  I  know,  the  Eastern  Federalists  have  been  able  to 
press  with  any  success,  is  that  our  object  should  at  present  be  to 
restrain  the  population  and  settlements  on  this  side  of  the  Mis 
sissippi,  and  that  the  acquisition  of  the  country  west  of  it  enables 
us  in  fact  better  to  regulate  and  control  the  progress  of  our  settle 
ments.  Perhaps  that  idea  might  be  introduced  in  connection 
with  what  is  said  in  a  subsequent  part  of  the  message  of  the 
settlement  of  the  country  lately  obtained  from  the  Kaskaskias. 

5th.  If  the  authorization  to  take  military  possession  is  not 
strictly  necessary,  it  will  be  much  more  convenient  to  order  its 
being  done  immediately  after  ratification ;  otherwise  a  delay  equal 
to  the  whole  time  employed  in  Congress  in  debating  the  general 


158  W  KIT  INGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

question  whether  the  treaty  shall  be  carried  into  effect  will  take 
place.  Situated  as  we  are  as  respects  both  France  and  Spain, 
every  day  may  be  precious.  Observe  that  Mr.  Baring  informs 
me  that  his  house  have  advanced  already  ten  millions  of  livres  to 
France  on  the  guarantee  of  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Livingston, 
grounded  on  the  authority  they  had  to  dispose  of  two  millions  of 
dollars ;  should  we  through  any  accident  miss  the  opportunity  of 
taking  possession,  both  the  treaty  and  the  money  may  be  lost. 
It  must  be  observed  generally  that  not  even  Congress  can  prevent 
some  constitutional  irregularity  in  the  proceedings  relative  to 
occupying  and  governing  that  country  before  an  amendment  to 
the  Constitution  shall  take  place.  I  think  that,  at  all  events,  it 
will  be  better  not  to  ask  in  direct  terms  for  that  authorization ; 
but  some  general  terms  may  be  introduced  in  the  immediately 
preceding  article  which  will  cover  the  object,  such  as  "  for  the 
occupying  and  temporarily  governing  the  country,  and  for  its 
ultimate  incorporation  in  the  Union." 

6th.  The  paragraph  in  relation  to  the  road  may  be  omitted,  as 
of  not  sufficient  relative  importance  when  compared  to  the  other 
objects  recommended  to  the  consideration  of  Congress.  I  should 
l>e  also  inclined  to  strike  out,  for  the  same  reason,  the  Missouri 
paragraph,  especially  because  the  result  of  the  mission  contem 
plated  by  last  year's  appropriation  is  not  yet  known  and  cannot 
therefore  be  communicated,  and  because,  so  far  as  relates  to  what 
Congress  should  do  on  that  subject,  the  substance  of  the  para 
graph  might  also  be  introduced  by  adding  a  few  words  to  that 
in  which  the  attention  of  Congress  is  called  to  the  measures 
rendered  necessary  or  expedient  on  account  of  the  acquisition  of 
Louisiana.  Thus,  after  the  words  "  for  confirming  to  the  Indians, 
&c.,"  might  be  added,  "and  for  establishing  commercial  and 
friendly  relations  with  them,"  and  also,  "for  ascertaining  the 
geography  of  the  territory  acquired."  Upon  that  idea  the  three 
paragraphs  commencing  with  the  words  "  Authority  from"  and 
ending  with  the  words  "  diligence  and  fidelity"  might  be  omitted, 
and  the  substance  of  the  first  and  last  incorporated  with  the 
preceding  paragraph,  commencing  with  the  words  "With  the 
wisdom"  and  now  ending  with  the  words  "  to  impair." 

Indians. — 1st.  If  the  idea  of  laying  the  Louisiana  treaty  before 


1803.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  159 

the  House  only  after  its  ratification  shall  be  adopted,  a  similar 
modification  of  expression  would  of  course  be  adopted  in  the 
expressions  communicating  the  substance  of  the  treaty  with  the 
Kaskaskia  tribe. 

2d.  Unless  the  idea  of  controlling  settlements  beyond  the 
Mississippi  can,  as  before  hinted,  be  connected  with  that  of  open 
ing  for  settlement  the  Kaskaskia  cession,  I  think  that,  under 
present  circumstances,  it  would  be  best  for  the  Executive  to  omit 
the  expression  of  an  opinion  in  favor  of  extending  settlements 
on  the  Mississippi  within  that  cession,  as  it  will  be  misrepresented 
in  the  eastern  parts  of  the  Union  as  a  proof  of  partiality  towards 
that  western  quarter,  and  as  a  wish  to  promote  migration  and  to 
weaken  rapidly  the  eastern  interest.  The  subject  will,  without 
being  further  recommended  than  merely  stating  the  cession,  be 
taken  up  by  the  Kentucky  members,  who  ardently  wish  to  see  a 
frontier  settled  north  of  them. 

Great  Britain  is  not  mentioned  in  the  message,  except  by  an 
allusion  to  her  aggressions,  which  cannot  well  be  omitted,  but 
which,  contrasted  with  what  must  be  said  of  the  French  govern 
ment  respecting  Louisiana,  may  be  more  displeasing  to  her  than  is 
necessary,  and  may  also  be  misrepresented  as  giving,  on  the  whole, 
an  aspect  of  partiality  to  the  message.  For  the  purpose  of  re 
moving  any  such  impression  or  insinuation,  and  also  in  order  to 
complete  the  tableau  of  our  happy  situation  in  every  respect, 
might  not  the  two  conventions  made  with  that  power,  by  which 
our  eastern  and  north-western  limits  are  fixed  and  every  terri 
torial  subject  of  dispute  with  them  is  removed,  be  mentioned? 
If  a  paragraph  to  that  effect  was  introduced,  it  might  immedi 
ately  precede  that  of  the  Kaskaskia. 

War  in  Europe,  and  Neutrality. — 1st.  Those  two  subjects  are 
so  nearly  the  same  that  I  think  they  should  not  be  divided  by 
the  intended  Finance  paragraph.  This  might  follow  the  Tripoli, 
and,  in  connecting  the  two  others,  some  modifications  in  their 
arrangement  on  account  of  the  similarity  of  some  of  the  ideas 
contained  in  them  might  be  introduced. 

2d.  Without  expressing  anything  like  self-applause,  but  refer 
ring  everything  to  the  moderate  and  wise  policy  adopted  by  last 
Congress  under  great  provocations,  and  with  a  due  acknowledg- 


160  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

ment  of  gratitude  to  Providence,  I  think  it  but  fair  to  introduce 
the  idea  of  our  having,  by  the  late  successful  negotiation,  so 
happily  escaped  becoming  parties  to  the  war,  and  to  contrast  our 
situation  with  that  of  the  belligerent  powers,  or  rather  with  what 
would  have  been  ours  had  a  different  course  been  pursued.  In 
the  view  presented  by  the  message,  the  serious  evils  to  be  appre 
hended  by  us  as  neutrals  are  above  stated. 

3d.  It  may  be  proper  in  a  general  enumeration  to  mention  the 
propriety  of  restraining  our  citizens  from  embarking  individually 
in  the  war.  The  laws  on  that  subject  are,  however,  as  complete 
as  possible. 

4th.  The  sentence  which  conveys  a  menace  of  interdicting  all 
intercourse  appears  to  me  much  too  strong  for  the  present  time. 
The  aggressions  and  provocations  are  not  yet  sufficient  to  justify 
the  idea ;  it  does  not  seem  consistent  with  our  general  policy  to 
throw  out  such  menace  before  negotiation  has  been  tried  and  ex 
hausted,  and  the  anticipation  of  such  state  of  things  darkens  the 
pleasing  impression  resulting  from  the  general  aspect  of  the 
message. 

5th.  Arena — this  expression  is  rather  strong  as  applied  to  the 
parties  in  the  war.  Neutral  passions  is  ambiguous,  as,  instead  of 
conveying  the  idea  that  passions  should  be  neutralized  or  rendered 
neuter  (for  the  observance  of  a  neutral  conduct),  it  seems  to  mean 
that  there  is  a  certain  class  of  passions  which  are  called  neutral. 

finance. — I  will  not  be  able  to  give  to  the  President  the  pre 
cise  amount  of  the  receipts  in  the  Treasury  during  the  last  year 
(ending  30th  September),  nor  of  the  balance  in  the  Treasury  on  that 
day,  as  the  Savannah  and  Charleston  returns  to  that  date  will  not 
reach  me  in  time ;  but  I  will,  within  next  week,  give  the  amount 
of  both  within  100,000  dollars,  so  as  to  enable  the  President  to  say 
that  the  receipts  have  exceeded millions hundred  thou 
sand  dollars,  and  that  the  balance  amounted  to  near millions 

hundred  thousand  dollars.  I  will  also,  either  this  week  or 

early  next,  be  able  to  give  the  precise  amount  applied  during  that 
year  to  the  payment  of  principal  and  interest  of  the  public  debt, 
distinguishing  the  payments  on  account  of  principal  from  those 
on  account  of  interest. 

As  to  the  revenue  accrued  during  the  year,  on  which  our  esti- 


1803.  LETTERS,    ETC. 

mates  of  receipts  hereafter  must  be  grounded,  it  will  be  impossible 
to  speak  with  any  degree  of  precision  before  5th  of  November. 
I  can  only  say  that  it  has  exceeded  the  estimate  heretofore  made 
by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  and  on  which  our  present 
arrangements  have  been  made.  As  to  the  necessity  of  additional 
taxes,  my  present  impression,  drawn  from  an  exact  review  of  the 
revenue  accrued  during  the  year  1802  and  a  tolerably  correct 
one  of  that  accrued  during  the  two  first  quarters  of  this  year, 
and  from  Louisiana  resources,  is  that  we  want  about  300,000 
dollars.  This  is  grounded  on  the  following  sketch.  The  reve 
nue  estimated  by  that  year's  report  was  equal,  or  nearly  so,  to  the 
estimated  expenditures  of  the  year. 

The  revenue  accrued  during  the  year  ending  30th  June  last 
exceeds  the  estimate  by  say  $300,000 

The  imports  of  Louisiana  in  foreign  articles  do  not  exceed 
2,500,000  dollars,  which  at  our  rate  of  duties  will  produce  a 
revenue  of  about  $350,000 

from  which  deducting,  viz. : 
duties   on  4  millions   pounds    sugar,  the 
annual  exports  of  Louisiana,  and  which 
coming  in  the  United  States  duty  free  will 
be  consumed  there  at  2J  cents  per  pound,    100,000  ^ 
do.  on  100,000  pounds  indigo  do.  25  cents,     25,000  V  $150,000 
Expenses  of  province  25,000  ) 

Net  revenue  $200,000 

Which  two  items  make  a  revenue  of  $500,000 

applicable  to  new  objects. 

Of  the  15  millions  purchase-money  of  Louisiana,  we 
may  pay  two  millions  in  specie ;  the  interest  on  the 
remaining  13  millions  is  780,000  dollars,  of  which 
675,000  payable  in  Europe,  which  on  that  account 
will  cost  at  least  3  per  cent,  more,  or  20,000  dollars. 
The  interest  to  be  provided  is  not  certainly  less,  there 
fore,  than  $800,000 

Deficiency  $300,000 

I  am  afraid  of  a  further  deduction  in  the  revenue,  on  account 
of  the  slow  sale  of  lands  this  year,  and  of  the  slower  payments  -} 
this,  however,  may  be  considered  as  temporary. 

VOL.  I.— 12 


162  WRITINGS    OF    GALL  AT  IN.  1803. 

If  on  account  of  the  small  vessels  now  employed  for  Tripoli 
the  navy  estimates  can  be  reduced  from  nine  hundred  to  six 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  I  think  that  we  may  venture  without 
additional  taxes;  but,  at  all  events,  it  will  be  best  that  the  subject, 
if  mentioned  by  the  President,  should  be  stated  in  doubtful  terms, 
as  rather  a  hope  than  a  certainty,  and  as  a  subject  to  be  inves 
tigated  by  Congress  when  they  shall  have  received  the  usual 
estimates.  The  paragraph  may  in  the  mean  while  remain  blank 
till  the  middle  of  next  week,  as  that  will  enable  me  to  obtain 
more  precise  results. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSOX. 

DEPARTMENT  or  THE  TREASURY,  October  6,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  navy  estimates  have  not  yet  been  sent  to 
Mr.  Smith  for  approbation,  and  the  substance  will  be  communi 
cated  to  me  to-morrow  morning.  I  will  call  with  it  on  you,  so 
that  you  may  write  by  to-morrow's  mail.  I  find  that  the  estab 
lishment  now  consists  of  the  Constitution,  the  Philadelphia,  each 
44,  and  five  small  vessels,  all  of  which  are  now  out  and  intended 
to  stay  the  whole  year,  as  the  crew  is  enlisted  for  two  years.  In 
my  opinion,  one-half  of  the  force,  viz.,  one  frigate  and  two  or 
three  small  vessels,  were  amply  sufficient.  The  large  item  of 
repairs  for  vessels  may  be  postponed  till  next  year. 

With  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 

Thursday  afternoon. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  October  28,  1803. 
DEAR  SIR, — I  have  conversed  with   most  of  the  Western 
members  of  Congress  respecting  the  possibility  of  raising  vol 
unteers  to  assist  the  force  already  prepared  for  occupying  New 
Orleans.     I  think  that  I  -have  seen  thirteen  out  of  the  seventeen 


1803.  LETTERS,   ETC.  163 

who  compose  the  delegation  of  the  three  Western  States,  and  I 
believe  that  they  have  all  conferred  on  the  subject.  Not  only 
they  appear  to  be  strongly  impressed  with  the  importance  of  the 
subject,  but  some  amongst  them  were  more  alarmed  than  I  had  ex 
pected,  as  it  had  been  reported  that  the  effective  regular  force  at 
Fort  Adams  which  may  be  spared  did  not  exceed  three  hundred 
men.  How  that  fact  is  I  do  not  remember,  but  had  believed 
that  the  regulars  there  would  amount  to  double  that  number. 
The  result  of  the  conversation  with  those  gentlemen,  and  which 
they  requested  might  be  communicated  to  you,  is,  that  if  the 
Executive  shall  think  it  necessary  to  call  any  militia  or  volun 
teers  in  that  part  of  the  country,  it  may  be  confidently  relied  on 
that  within  a  fortnight  after  the  reception  of  the  orders  by  the 
Executives  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky  fifteen  hundred  horse 
men,  all  of  them  volunteers  and  well  selected,  shall  be  at  Nash 
ville,  and  then  proceed  immediately  to  Natchez,  which  they  may 
reach  within  twenty  days  afterwards  at  most.  About  one-third 
of  that  number  might  meet  at  Nashville  a  few  days  earlier,  and 
march  across  the  wilderness  within  a  fortnight,  the  rest  to  follow 
in  divisions  of  two  or  three  hundreds  as  they  met  from  the  more 
distant  parts ;  which  will  also  be  more  convenient  on  account 
of  forage  for  the  horses.  Every  man  shall  carry  his  own  pro 
visions  across,  and  will  be  completely  accoutred  and  armed, 
unless,  as  there  are  muskets  at  Fort  Adams,  it  should  be  thought 
more  eligible  to  induce  a  number  of  the  volunteers  not  to  take 
their  rifles,  and  to  take  muskets  on  their  arrival.  The  idea  of 
going  by  water  must  be  abandoned  so  far  as  relates  to  an  imme 
diate  expedition,  because  the  water  is  too  low,  and  then  there  are 
not  on  the  spot  any  immediate  means  of  transportation.  All  the 
gentlemen  agree  that  as  to  the  number  of  men,  considering  that  all 
the  crops  are  in,  the  season  the  most  favorable  in  point  of  health 
of  the  whole  year,  and  the  general  zeal  of  the  country,  five 
thousand  men  could  be  raised  at  once  without  any  difficulty,  and 
that  the  only  struggle  will  be  for  having  permission  to  go.  The 
proportion  agreed  on  is  that  Tennessee  should  send  one-third, 
and  Kentucky  the  other  two-thirds. 

In  order  to  judge  of  the  benefits  which  may  be  derived  from 
the  adoption  of  the  measure,  it  is  necessary  to  compare  dates,  and 


164  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

this  will  show  that  they  are  less  than  if  the  measure  had  been 
adopted  a  fortnight  ago.  Supposing  that  on  Monday  next,  31st 
October,  the  mail  should  carry  the  order  of  the  French  govern 
ment  to  deliver  the  province  to  our  officers,  and  your  instructions 
to  General  Wilkinson  and  Governor  Claiborne,  they  shall  be 
received  at  Natchez  on  the  12th  or  14th  of  November,  and  if 
all  the  arrangements  have  been  made  according  to  orders,  the 
militia  which  may  be  spared  in  the  Mississippi  Territory  may 
be  collected  within  a  week  at  farthest,  and  the  whole  regular 
and  militia  force  there  depart  for  New  Orleans  on  the  20th. 
This,  I  presume,  may  be  considered  as  the  greatest  possible 
expedition. 

Supposing  that  the  same  mail  should  carry  the  requisition  to 
the  Governor  of  Tennessee,  it  will  reach  Knoxville  on  the  5th 
November.  If  he  shall  issue  his  orders  on  the  7th,  they  will 
reach  Nashville  about  the  10th,  and  as  the  population  of  that 
district  is  pretty  compact  (and  the  gentlemen  here  will  write 
preparatory  letters  to  the  principal  men  there,  which  by  the 
mail  will  have  reached  Nashville  the  7th  or  8th),  one-half  of 
the  five  hundred  men  may  be  ready  to  set  off  the  12th  or 
14th,  and  the  other  half  the  17th.  Supposing  them  also  to 
cross  the  wilderness  in  a  fortnight,  the  whole  body  would  reach 
Natchez  from  the  27th  November  to  the  3d  December.  This 
may  be  also  considered  as  the  greatest  possible  despatch.  As  to 
the  men  from  Kentucky,  the  mail  takes  twelve  days  to  go  there, 
and  it  cannot  be  expected  that  their  volunteers  would  be  able 
to  leave  Nashville  before  25th  November  to  1st  December,  or 
to  arrive  at  Natchez  before  15th  December. 

It  results  from  thence  that  no  part  of  the  Tennessee  a'nd  Ken 
tucky  volunteers  can  on  any  possible  supposition  reach  Natchez 
until  ten  or  twelve  days  after  the  time  when,  if  the  orders  to 
Governor  Claiborne  go  Monday  next,  the  regular  force  and  militia 
there  shall  have  left  it  for  New  Orleans,  and  that  the  main  body 
will  arrive  two  weeks  still  later.  The  advantages,  therefore,  to 
result  from  adopting  the  measure  are  confined  to  the  following 
two  points : 

1st.  Governor  Claiborne  being  informed  at  the  same  time  that 
he  shall  receive  his  instructions  of  the  expected  reinforcement 


1803.  LETTERS,    ETC.  165 

and  of  the  time  when  they  shall  arrive,  may,  if  he  shall  have 
been  informed  that  the  Spanish  officers  have  refused  to  give  pos 
session  to  Laussat,  wait  until  the  first  corps  or  the  whole  body 
(according  to  the  degree  of  resistance  which  he  may  expect)  shall 
have  arrived.  If  Laussat  shall  have  received  possession,  Gov 
ernor  Claiborne  may  proceed  immediately  with  his  own  force, 
writing  by  mail  a  counter-order  to  such  part  of  the  militia  as 
shall  not  have  yet  left  Nashville. 

2d.  He  may,  at  all  events,  march  a  much  greater  part  of  the 
Mississippi  Territory  militia,  who  will  be  relieved  from  any  un 
easiness  respecting  the  Choctaws  by  the  march  of  the  volunteers 
from  Tennessee  and  Kentucky. 

Thus  it  is  possible  that  the  regulars  and  militia  of  the  Terri 
tory  would  in  his  and  General  Wilkinson's  opinion  be  sufficient 
to  overcome  the  resistance  of  any  existing  Spanish  force  at  New 
Orleans,  and  that  despatch  was  essentially  necessary  for  fear  of 
any  reinforcement  from  Havana  or  other  unforeseen  causes.  In 
that  case  the  knowledge  of  the  march  and  expected  arrival  of 
the  volunteers  would  enable  him  to  draw  the  whole  active  militia 
of  the  Territory  and  go  on  without  losing  an  instant. 

For  those  reasons,  and  also  because  I  think  that  the  expedition 
itself,  which  at  a  distance  will  certainly  be  magnified,  will  add  to 
the  opinion  entertained  abroad  of  our  forces,  resources,  and  energy, 
particularly  as  applicable  to  the  future  defence  of  the  acquired 
country,  and  also  to  that  which  the  newly-acquired  inhabitants 
ought  to  have  of  our  government,  I  think  that  the  measure,  even  at 
this  late  hour,  is  eligible.  Be  pleased  to  excuse  the  freedom  with 
which  I  give  an  opinion  and  perhaps  interfere  on  a  question  so 
foreign  to  my  proper  business.  But  to  lose  the  object  at  this 
time,  to  fail  in  an  attempt  to  take  forcible  possession,  would  in 
every  point  of  view  be  evils  of  such  magnitude,  that  I  cannot 
help  feeling  much  anxiety  for  fear  that  in  that  event  we  should 
have  to  reproach  ourselves  with  the  omission  of  any  practicable 
measure  which  might  have  prevented  the  misfortune.  As  to  the 
expense,  it  is  but  a  trifle  compared  with  the  object:  two  thou 
sand  volunteers  at  one  dollar  a  day  for  seventy  days  are  140,000 
dollars. 

It  is  understood  that  if  fifteen  hundred  effective  volunteers  are 


166  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

wanted  to  arrive  at  Natchez  the  requisition  should  be  for  two 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty,  viz.,  seven  hundred  and  fifty 
from  Tennessee  and  fifteen  hundred  from  Kentucky.  As  a 
measure  which  will  cost  nothing,  will,  in  respect  to  Spain,  add 
to  their  opinion  of  us,  and  may  under  certain  circumstances  be 
ultimately  serviceable,  to  this  force  might  be  added  ten  thousand 
nominal  men  from  the  same  States  and  Ohio,  to  be  only  enrolled 
or  drafted  and  considered  as  ready  to  march  whenever  called  upon. 
There  has  been  something  said  of  the  want  of  galleys  which 
would  have  been  useful  against  those  of  Spain.  Is  not  there 
one  at  Bayou  Pierre  ? 

Little  reliance  can  be  placed  on  the  regular  force  at  Massac, 
Kaskaskia,  and  Chickasaw  Bluff,  unless  they  have  already  received 
orders  to  proceed.  Otherwise,  on  account  of  the  low  water,  they 
will  arrive  too  late.  Yet  there  would  be  no  harm  in  pressing  by 
immediate  orders  their  departure. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON    TO    GALLATIN. 

October  29,  1803. 

Th.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  must  ask  the  favor  of  you  to  meet  the  heads  of  Depart 
ments  here  to-morrow  at  12  o'clock  and  afterwards  to  dine  with 
us.  The  object  is  to  decide  definitively  on  the  arrangements 
which  are  to  be  despatched  westwardly  the  next  day.  General 
Dearborn  and  myself  had  concluded  to  submit  to  the  meeting  a 
plan  little  different  from  that  suggested  in  your  letter  of  yester 
day.  To  wit,  to  send  orders  to  Claiborne  and  Wilkinson  to  march 
instantly  five  hundred  regulars  (which  are  prepared)  from  Fort 
Adams,  and  one  thousand  militia  from  the  Mississippi  Territory 
(if  the  information  from  Laussat  to  them  shall  indicate  refusal 
from  Spain).  To  send  hence  on  the  same  day  a  call  on  the 
Governor  of  Tennessee  for  two  thousand  volunteers,  and  of  Ken 
tucky  for  four  thousand,  to  be  officered,  organized,  accoutred,  and 
mustered  on  a  day  to  be  named,  such  as  that  Claiborne  and  Wil 
kinson  might  by  that  day  send  them  information  whether  they 


1803.  LETTEHS,   ETC.  1(37 

would  be  wanted,  and  to  march  or  do  otherwise  accordingly.  I 
had  since  thought  myself  to  propose  that,  on  receiving  informa 
tion  that  there  would  be  resistance,  they  should  send  sufficient 
parties  of  regulars  and  militia  across  the  Mississippi  to  take  by 
surprise  New  Madrid,  St.  Genevieve,  St.  Louis,  and  all  the  other 
small  posts,  and  that  all  this  should  be  made  as  much  as  possible 
the  act  of  France,  by  inducing  Laussat,  with  the  aid  of  Clark, 
to  raise  an  insurrectionary  force  of  the  inhabitants,  to  which  ours 
might  be  only  auxiliary.  But  all  this,  with  much  more,  is  to  be 
considered  to-morrow.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN    TO    W.   C.    CLAIBORNE,    ESQ.,    GOVERNOR    OF    THE    MIS 
SISSIPPI  TERRITORY,  NATCHEZ. 

Private. 

WASHINGTON,  31st  October,  1803. 

DEAK  SIR, — You  will  receive  by  this  mail  instructions  from 
the  proper  Department  for  taking  possession  of  Louisiana,  and 
for  the  temporary  government  of  the  province.  It  is  understood 
that  the  existing  duties  on  imports  and  exports,  which  by  the 
Spanish  laws  are  now  levied  within  the  province,  will  continue 
until  Congress  shall  have  otherwise  provided.  By  next  mail  I 
expect  to  be  able  to  write  you  an  official  letter  on  that  subject, 
which  will  probably  reach  you  before  you  can  act  upon  it. 
Generally  for  all  moneys  which  you  may  receive  on  that  account 
you  will  be  accountable  to  the  Treasury ;  but  I  hope  that  we  may 
get  a  law  passed  in  time  to  relieve  you  from  any  trouble  on  that 
point. 

The  late  hour  at  which  the  interference  of  Spain  has  taken 
place  has  prevented  the  collecting  of  as  great  force  at  Natchez  as 
might,  under  existing  circumstances,  have  been  desirable.  But 
I  still  hope  that,  even  in  the  case  of  counter-orders  having  reached 
the  Governor  of  Louisiana  (which  is  improbable),  you  will  have 
enough  to  take  possession,  provided  that  you  shall  not  lose  an 
instant.  Five  hundred  horse  militia  are  ordered  from  Nashville ; 
but  I  do  not  believe  that,  supposing  the  greatest  despatch,  you 
can  expect  them  sooner  than  in  a  fortnight  after  you  shall  receive 


168  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

your  commission  and  instructions ;  and,  although  I  am  a  very  bad 
judge  of  military  operations,  I  much  doubt  whether  ten  days 
gained  in  point  of  time  will  not  be  of  more  importance  than  that 
reinforcement.  If  your  regulars  and  territorial  Mississippians 
afford  you  seven  or  eight  hundred  effective  men,  and  the  Governor 
of  Louisiana  has. received  no  reinforcement,  I  think  that  on  your 
floating  down  and  appearing  in  view  they  will  receive  you.  But 
if  even  resistance  should  be  expected,  although  there  may  be  some 
risk  in  a  coup  de  main,  it  appears  to  me  less  hazardous  than 
delay.  Your  present  force,  compared  with  that  of  New  Orleans, 
is,  in  my  opinion,  greater  than  any  reinforcement  which  the 
militia  of  the  Western  States  can  afford,  compared  with  an 
addition  of  three  or  four  thousand  regulars  from  Havana,  which 
that  government  may  easily  make  if  they  are  serious  in  their 
opposition  to  the  treaty  and  you  shall  give  them  time.  That 
danger,  that  of  their  being  reinforced  by  water,  appears  to  me  to 
be  the  greatest  we  have  to  apprehend.  On  that  account  would  it 
not  be  practicable  (supposing  that  on  your  arriving  at  New  Orleans 
you  should  find  yourself  too  weak  and  not  sufficiently  supported 
from  within  the  place  to  risk  an  attack)  for  General  Wilkinson 
to  take  such  position  as,  whilst  it  gave  security  to  his  force,  might 
enable  him  to  intercept  such  reinforcements?  Might  not  our 
merchant  shipping  in  the  river  be  used  in  some  degree  for  that 
purpose,  or  something  of  the  nature  of  gunboats  or  floating 
batteries  be  placed  in  the  river  ?  I  mention  this  partly  because 
the  law  to  take  possession  having  contemplated  only  the  use  of 
the  army,  navy,  and  militia  in  existence,  and  not  the  increase  of 
naval  force  by  purchase  or  otherwise,  I  think  that  nevertheless 
you  should  not  hesitate  to  adopt  any  such  measures  which  the 
emergency  of  the  case  will  require,  there  being  no  doubt  that 
Congress  will  sanction  every  necessary  expense  of  that  kind. 

I  thought  of  only  apologizing  for  my  not  writing  you  by  this 
mail  on  money  matters,  and  have  digressed  to  that  subject  which 
at  present  engrosses  our  whole  attention.  But  I  know  that  you 
have  powers  altogether  discretionary,  and  you  will  of  course  con 
sider  this  as  the  private  communication  of  a  friend  who  feels  with 
all  others  extremely  anxious  on  this  important  occasion,  but  whose 
opinion  must  not  in  any  manner  control  your  own  judgment.  I 


1803.  LETTERS,    ETC.  169 

must  add  that  I  coincided  strenuously  in  the  idea  of  sending 
immediately  the  Tennessee  detachment,  although  they  might  not 
arrive  in  time  to  assist  you  in  taking  possession,  because,  at  all 
events,  their  approach  would  enable  you  to  draw  a  greater  force 
from  the  Territory,  inasmuch  as  they  would  relieve  you  from  any 
apprehension  on  the  part  of  the  Choctaws. 

Please  to  give  my  compliments  to  General  Wilkinson,  in  whose 
promptitude  and  decision  his  friends  place  great  confidence  in  case 
of  an  attack  being  necessary ;  and  accept  my  best  wishes  for  your 
joint  success. 

I  remain,  &c. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  November  8,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — By  conversation  with  Dr.  Jones  I  find  that  the 
Bentleys,  who  apply  for  the  office  at  Yaocomico,  are  Tories: 
why  Mr.  Taliaferro  recommended  one  of  them  I  cannot  under 
stand.  But  Dr.  Jones  lives  within  three  or  four  miles  from  the 
spot,  and  his  information  is  certainly  to  be  preferred.  Major 
Tapscott  is  the  Republican  candidate :  as  there  is  no  surveyor  or 
other  officer  in  the  district,  it  will,  notwithstanding  the  impor 
tance  of  the  office,  be  eligible  to  fill  it  early,  as  a  vessel  might 
land  there  a  cargo  without  a  single  individual  opposing  it. 

I  enclose  the  rough  draft  of  the  answer  to  Governor  Harrison ; 
if  the  discretion  given  to  him  be  too  great,  please  to  correct  it. 
I  have  modified  the  express  prohibition  against  those  concerned 
in  any  lick,  as  I  believe  that  almost  every  applicant  was  concerned 
in  some  small  spring  or  other.  Mr.  Bell,  I  know,  was  so  engaged. 
Mr.  Bedinger  of  Congress  has  given  me  a  letter  from  a  Mr. 
Morgan,  who  he  says  may  be  depended  upon  as  to  veracity, 
although  he  may  be  mistaken  in  the  quantity  of  water,  and  which 
I  enclose  on  account  of  his  information  respecting  Mr.  Bell. 

Several  of  the  memoranda  enclosed  by  Mr.  Clark  to  Mr. 
Madison  deserve  notice,  and  I  have  noted  such  as  relate  more 
particularly  to  the  Treasury  Department.  It  is  necessary  to 
observe  that  none  of  the  general  officers  of  the  Spanish  province 
of  Louisiana  can  be  appointed,  and  perhaps  very  few  can  be 


170  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1803. 

removed  by  the  governor  or  intendant ;  and  that  great  many  of 
those  offices  ought  immediately  to  cease,  or  to  be  exercised  by 
other  persons.  I  think,  therefore, 

1st.  That  the  collector  of  Natchez  (Mr.  Trist)  should  by  next 
mail  receive  a  commission  vesting  in  him  the  powers  heretofore 
exercised  by  the  Administrator,  Treasurer,  and  Contador  of  the 
custom-house,  which  will  enable  him  to  collect  the  revenue. 

2d.  That  the  governor  (Claiborne)  should  be  specially  author 
ized  and  directed  to  suppress  all  useless  offices,  and  to  suspend 
all  officers  as  he  shall  think  fit.  In  order  to  throw  light  on 
this  subject,  I  enclose  two  papers  which  I  have  extracted  from 
the  several  documents  sent  by  Clark,  and  which  are  much  more 
correct  than  his  own  results,  as  from  having  neglected  to  ana 
lyze  the  Treasurer's  accounts,  of  which  he  had  obtained  a  copy, 
he  had  supposed  the  expenses  of  the  province  more  than  two 
hundred  thousand  dollars  greater  than  they  really  are. 

The  first  paper  on  "  Receipts  and  Expenditures  for  1802" 
is  authentic,  being  the  real  account  for  that  year.  The  other 
paper  is  the  estimate  of  the  annual  expense  drawn  in  1785,  but 
corrected  for  1803  by  the  contador  of  the  army,  and  arranged 
by  me  for  the  purpose  of  classifying  the  several  species  of  officers : 
it  will,  though  only  an  estimate,  give  more  information  for  the 
intended  object  than  the  account. 

I  have  preserved  copies  of  neither,  and  will  occasionally  want 
them  again.  I  think  that  they  ought  not  to  be  printed  with 
the  other  papers,  as  they  bear  evident  marks  of  official  docu 
ments,  and  would  injure  the  person  from  whom  obtained,  who  is 
the  same  whom  Clark  recommends  for  Spanish  consul  at  New 
Orleans. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


1803.  LETTERS,    ETC.  171 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON.* 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TREASURY,  December  13,  1803. 

DEAR  SIR, — Wherever  our  moneys  may  be  deposited,  the 
Treasurer's  draft  for  the  same  has  the  same  credit  as  any 
bank-note,  and  the  circulation  of  those  drafts  would  be  more 
extensive  than  now,  if  they  were,  like  bank-notes,  payable  to 
bearer.  Unless,  however,  we  wanted,  which  we  do  not,  to  issue 
exchequer  bills  or  paper  money  of  some  description  or  another, 
it  never  will  happen  that  our  drafts  shall  be  issued  except  in 
payment  of  a  demand,  and  made  payable  to  the  person  whose 
demand  is  thus  discharged.  The  great  advantages  wre  derive  from 
banks,  and  especially  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States,  are : 

1st.  A  safe  place  of  deposit  for  the  public  moneys. 

2d.  The  instantaneous  transmission  of  such  moneys  from  any 
one  part  of  the  continent  to  another,  the  bank  giving  us  im 
mediately  credit  at  New  York,  if  we  want  it,  for  any  sum  we 
may  have  at  Savannah,  or  at  any  other  of  their  offices,  and  vice 
versa. 

3d.  The  great  facility  which  an  increased  circulation  and  dis 
counts  give  to  the  collection  of  the  revenue. 

For  these  reasons  I  am  extremely  anxious  to  see  a  bank  at 
New  Orleans ;  considering  the  distance  of  that  place,  our  own 
security  and  even  that  of  the  collector  will  be  eminently  pro 
moted,  and  the  transmission  of  moneys  arising  both  from  the 
impost  and  sales  of  lands  in  the  Mississippi  Territory  would 
without  it  be  a  very  difficult  and  sometimes  dangerous  operation. 

Against  this  there  are  none  but  political  objections,  and  those 
will  lose  much  of  their  force  when  the  little  injury  they  can  do 
us  and  the  dependence  in  which  they  are  on  government  are 
duly  estimated.  They  may  vote  as  they  please  and  take  their 
own  papers,  but  they  are  formidable  only  as  individuals  and  as 
merchants,  and  not  as  bankers.  Whenever  they  shall  appear  to 
be  really  dangerous,  they  are  completely  in  our  power  and  may 
be  crushed. 

1  See  the  letter  to  which  this  is  in  reply,  in  Jefferson's  Writings,  iv.  518. 


172  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

As  to  the  answer  to  the  letter,  I  agree  fully  with  you,  and  in 
tended  only  to  give  a  civil  answer,  without  committing  us  on  the 
question  of  expediency.  It  shall  be  altered  so  as  to  answer  that 
object. 

What  must  be  done  with  the  New  Orleans  hospital,  and  Dr. 
Bache's  indirect  application  for  increase  of  salary  ?  One  thousand 
dollars  is  fully  sufficient ;  we  give  no  more  anywhere  else. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  January  11,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — Mr.  Baring  has  concluded,  notwithstanding  Mr. 
Pichon's  entreaties,  not  to  take  the  stock  till  we  shall  have  heard 
from  New  Orleans.  He  urges  that  it  is  not  just  that  the  risk, 
however  improbable  the  event,  of  our  not  obtaining  possession 
should  fall  on  him,  which  he  says  would  be  the  case  if  he  gave 
a  receipt  for  the  stock  before  we  knew  that  \ve  have  possession. 
I  offered  to  give  him  the  certificates  leaving  the  date  of  interest 
in  blank,  we  agreeing  merely  that  it  should  be  filled  with  the  day 
of  taking  possession  whenever  known ;  and  I  told  him  that  next 
week,  being  the  last  of  the  three  months,  I  would  insist  on  his 
taking  the  stock,  and  on  his  refusal  would  deliver  it  to  Mr. 
Pichon.  He  says  that  in  that  case  he  will  take  it,  as  our  forcing 
it  upon  him  will  be  a  pledge  of  our  obligation  to  pay  even  if  we 
should  not  obtain  possession. 

As  Mr.  Pichon  is  much  disappointed,  I  beg  that  the  moment 
you  may  hear  from  New  Orleans  you  will  have  the  goodness  to 
drop  me  a  line  stating  the  day  when  possession  was  obtained. 

Respectfully,  your  most  obedient  servant. 

Wednesday. 

It  was  agreed  by  Mr.  Pichon,  in  the  course  of  the  conversation, 
that  our  delivery  of  the  stock  would  be  a  nullity  in  case  of  our 
not  obtaining  possession,  as  the  United  States  were  not  bound  by 
the  treaty  to  pay  if  France  did  not  comply  with  the  treaty. 


1804.  LETTERS,   ETC.  173 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TREASURY,  18th  January,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — Mr.  Harvie  called  on  me  this  evening  to  inform 
me  of  his  being  selected  to  carry  the  stock  to  France,  and  wish 
ing  that  this  might  be  ready  to-morrow.  The  stock  is  ready,  but 
there  are  two  circumstances  to  be  attended  to. 

In  the  course  of  the  transaction  I  have  always  reminded  Mr. 
Pichon  that  we  were  neither  bound  to  transmit  the  stock  nor 
liable  for  any  accidents  which  might  attach  to  the  transmission ; 
but  that,  desirous  of  assisting  in  everything  which  was  convenient 
for  the  French  government,  we  would  transmit  the  stock  in  such 
manner  and  by  such  means  as  he  would  himself  select ;  and  I 
have  obtained  from  him  an  official  letter  stating  that  the  warrant 
of  the  Secretary  to  the  Kegister  of  the  Treasury  to  deliver  one- 
third  of  the  stock,  and  to  transmit  the  other  two-thirds,  was  to 
be  considered  and  held  as  a  complete  fulfilment  of  the  engagement 
entered  into  by  the  United  States  to  transfer  the  stock  within 
three  months  after  the  exchange  of  ratifications;  and  in  the 
same  letter,  which  is  also  signed  by  Baring  and  addressed  to  the 
Register,  this  officer  is  directed  by  them  to  transmit  the  stock  by 
the  first  public  vessel  or  safe  opportunity.  It  was  at  the  same 
time  verbally  agreed  that  Mr.  Pichon  should  pay  the  extra  ex 
pense  of  the  provision  vessel  touching  at  a  French  port,  and  also 
that  the  stock  should  be  placed  under  the  care  of  an  officer  of 
our  navy.  The  selection  of  your  private  secretary  must  appear 
so  eligible  to  him  that  he  certainly  will  not  object ;  but  I  think 
that,  in  order  to  guard  against  any  possible  accident,  it  is  proper 
to  obtain  his  assent  in  writing  to  Mr.  Harvie  being  the  bearer. 

The  other  consideration  is  that  of  expense.  Doubting,  as  we 
were  not  bound  to  transmit  the  stock,  of  the  authority  of  incur 
ring  expense  for  that  object,  I  put  down  a  few  days  ago,  in  a 
small  additional  estimate  of  appropriation  sent  to  the  Committee 
of  Ways  and  Means,  an  item,  for  the  printing  and  transmission 
of  the  certificates,  of  1500  dollars.  In  the  mean  while  it  seems 
proper  that  the  expense  should  not  be  larger  than  necessary.  By 
the  arrangement  with  Mr.  Smith,  as  an  officer  was  to  be  the  bearer, 


174  WHITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1804. 

no  other  would  have  been  incurred  than  the  price  of  his  passage 
to  and  from  Europe;  and  it  was  intended  that  he  should  leave  the 
stock  with  our  consul  at  the  first  French  port,  and  should  pro 
ceed  in  the  provision  ship  to  Gibraltar,  where  he  might  join  the 
squadron  if  wanted,  or  return  in  the  vessel.  If  Mr.  Harvie 
shall  go,  is  it  intended  that  the  same  course  should  be  followed  ? 
or  is  he  to  go  to  Paris  ? 

In  either  case  is  he  to  receive  a  compensation, paying  his 

passage?  and  if  so,  from  what  fund  should  it  be  paid  if  the 
proposed  appropriation  should  not  pass  ? 

I  will  call  to-morrow  morning  on  you,  but  send  this  letter  in 
order  that  you  may  be  ready  to  decide,  as  Mr.  Harvie  told  me 
that  he  wished  to  go  immediately  as  far  as  Richmond.  Should 
he,  when  arrived  there,  find  it  inconvenient  for  family  reasons 
not  to  proceed,  provision  must  also  be  made  for  the  mode  of 
transmitting  the  stock  from  thence  to  Norfolk. 

I  enclose  the  sketch  of  a  letter  intended  for  Mr.  Pichon. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

1804. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  have  always  proposed  to  reappoint  General  Gibson  to  his 
present  office,  wherein  I  hear  of  no  complaint  against  him. 
Neither  his  age  nor  understanding  entitles  him  to  anything  be 
yond  that,  and  equal  to  his^ancient  military  rank. 

I  personally  know  those  who  recommend  Dr.  Baldwin.  Kin- 
ney  is  a  good  man,  but  as  a  Federalist  feels  no  great  interest  in 
our  making  good  appointments.  Judge  Stuart  is  my  intimate 
friend  and  tfeve.  He  would  not  lead  me  into  a  scrape ;  accord 
ingly,  in  his  letter  there  is  not  one  word  of  Baldwin's  talents,  and 
from  a  conversation  or  two  with  the  latter,  I  should  suspect  him 
to  be  ignorant.  The  best  person  I  know  for  the  hospital  at 
New  Orleans  is  Dr.  Barn  well,  of  Philadelphia.  He  applied 
the  last  year,  and  I  had  a  book  of  his  to  judge  him  by,  and  from 
that  concluded  his  talents  perfectly  adequate  and  beyond  what 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  175 

we  could  expect  to  get  for  that  place.  I  wrote  to  Philadelphia 
to  Dr.  Wistar  particularly  to  learn  his  character;  his  report 
was  strongly  favorable.  But  as  it  proved  that  Bache  would  ac 
cept,  he  was  preferred.  There  is  a  Dr.  Wallace  who  stands  next 
to  Barnwell  among  the  candidates,  but  he  is  a  Virginian.  Bald 
win  had  better  be  informed  that  no  appointment  being  made,  no 
other  answer  is  ever  given  to  anybody. 

Among  the  candidates  for  the  light-house  at  Old  Point  Com 
fort,  Captain  Eli  Vickery  seems  decidedly  the  best.  There  is 
a  Mr.  Bingham  from  Richmond  well  recommended,  but  it  must 
be  quite  out  of  his  line ;  whereas  Yickery  is  an  old  sea-captain. 
Nothing  is  said  of  the  politics  of  either,  but  both  are  recom 
mended  by  the  best  Republicans.  If  you  know  no  reason  to  the 
contrary,  appoint  Vickery. 

I  think  it  would  be  well  to  consult  Mr.  Huger  as  to  Captain 
Tucker  Howland  for  the  light-house  on  North  Island,  Should 
he  know  nothing  against  him,  I  suppose  he  must  be  appointed  on 
Mr.  Stevens's  recommendation. 

There  are  two  matters  which  were  the  subjects  of  conversation 
between  us  the  first  year  of  our  being  in  the  Administration,  and 
which  were  reserved  for  future  consideration,  which,  as  I  always 
forget  to  mention  when  I  see  you,  I  will  now  notice  in  writing. 
One  was  the  adopting  some  means  of  ascertaining  the  exports  from 
and  the  imports  consumed  in  each  State  respectively.  This  would 
be  an  element  in  our  political  arithmetic  which  it  might  be  useful 
to  possess  in  the  various  estimates  and  views  of  our  affairs.  I 
remember  you  thought,  prima  facie,  it  could  be  done  without 
great  trouble.  The  other  was  the  laying  before  Congress  at  some 
time  of  every  session  a  calendar  of,  1,  the  interest  of  the  public 
debt  paid  in  each  year ;  2,  the  principal  paid  or  added ;  3,  the  prin 
cipal  remaining  due  at  the  end  of  each  year.  This  calendar  to 
be  carried  back  as  far  as  possible,  even  to  the  commencement  of 
the  present  Constitution  if  practicable.  This  would  be  laborious; 
but  could  not  some  one  of  abilities  and  disposition  proper  for  it 
be  selected  and  employed  on  it  solely  until  completed  ?  Would 
it  not  be  useful  also  to  oblige  our  successors,  by  setting  the  ex 
ample  ourselves,  of  laying  annually  before  Congress  a  similar 
calendar  of  the  expenditures,  1,  for  the  civil,  2,  the  military, 


176  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

3,  the  naval  departments,  in  a  single  sum  each  ?  The  greatest 
security  against  the  introduction  of  corrupt  practices  and  princi 
ples  into  our  government,  which  can  be  relied  on  in  practice,  is 
to  make  the  continuance  of  an  Administration  depend  on  their 
keeping  the  public  expenses  down  at  their  minimum.  The  people 
at  large  are  not  judges  of  theoretic  principles,  but  they  can  judge 
on  comparative  statements  of  the  expense  of  different  epochs. 
When  you  shall  have  bestowed  some  thought  on  these  subjects, 
we  will  have  conversation  on  them.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  February  11,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — It  is  necessary  to  know  where  Eli  Vickery  lives 
in  order  to  notify  him  of  his  appointment  to  keep  the  Old  Point 
Comfort  light-house. 

The  enclosed  you  have  already  seen,  and  I  have  already  com 
municated  my  opinion  of  Davies's  inability,  which  is  rather  felt 
than  susceptible  of  positive  proof.  The  employment  of  clerks 
of  inferior  abilities  is  known  already  at  the  Treasury.  I  might 
write  to  Gatewood  if  it  shall  be  your  opinion  that  on  his  testify 
ing  the  truth  of  the  allegations  Davies  shall  be  removed ;  it  is 
proper  to  state  that  Gatewood  was  the  candidate  for  the  office 
when  Davies  was  appointed,  and  is  of  course  inimical  to  him. 
Your  idea  to  suffer  the  man  to  die  appears  to  me  dangerous. 

The  last  six  months  that  a  man  who  is  not  fit  for  the  office 
remains  in  it  are  always  those  during  which  confusion  of  accounts 
and  delinquency  either  take  place  or  increase  beyond  bounds. 
Witness  Habersham,  Holmes,  Bird,  Lamb,  Delaney,  E.  Living 
ston,  &c.  [ ]  is  the  only  instance,  to  my  knowledge,  where  a 

delinquency  of  several  years'  standing  had  not  increased  for  the 
four  or  five  last  he  was  in  office.  Whenever  a  successor  shall  be 
appointed,  it  is  desirable  that  he  may  have  activity,  assiduity, 
and  competent  talents ;  for  Norfolk  may  now  be  ranked  amongst 
the  large  ports,  and  the  office  of  collector,  if  well  executed,  will 
require  the  constant  attention  of  the  officer.  The  only  man 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  177 

who  has  been  mentioned  to  me  is  Tazewell,  by  whom  I  do  not 
recollect,  but  I  believe  by  Mr.  Madison. 

I  have  this  year,  with  much  labor,  laid  the  foundation  in  the 
report  on  the  sinking  fund  of  the  public  debt  calendar,  by  stating 
with  perfect  correctness  the  application  during  the  year  1802  to 
principal  and  interest.  I  had  intended  to  add  to  it  the  state  of 
the  debt  at  the  commencement  and  end  of  the  year;  but  the 
statements  prepared  for  that  purpose  did  not  please  me,  and  I 
had  not  time  to  correct  them  before  the  report  must  necessarily  be 
made.  I  have  them  now  on  hand  in  order  that  they  may  appear 
in  next  year's  report,  and  I  may  set  any  clerk,  with  very  little 
superintendence,  to  pursue  the  subject,  on  the  same  plan,  from 
year  to  year  back  to  any  given  year. 

I  am  afraid  that  an  account  of  coastway  exports  cannot  be 
correctly  obtained,  and  if  obtained  would  not  give  the  true 
amount  of  produce  of  each  State. 

Thus,  Alexandria  exports  (to  other  States)  Maryland  tobacco 
and  flour  and  Pennsylvania  flour ;  Baltimore  exports  much  Penn 
sylvania  produce,  Petersburg  a  considerable  quantity  of  North 
Carolina  do.,  &c.  I  will,  however,  take  the  subject  under  con 
sideration,  and  see  whether  any  returns  may  be  required  from  the 
collectors  which  will  assist  in  forming  an  estimate. 

With  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSOX. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  15th  February,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — Wilson  Nicholas  called  again  on  me  this  morn 
ing,  and  seems  to  prefer  an  office  in  New  Orleans  for  his  nephew. 
Yet  there  is  a  difficulty,  as  wre  must  have  all  the  custom-house 
officers  at  New  Orleans  immediately,  and  the  business  of  the 
commissioners  at  Mobile  will  not  be  terminated  till  in  the  course 
of  the  summer,  and  perhaps  later. 

The  vacancy  on  the  bench  occasions  already  conjectures  and 
half-applications.  Wade  Hampton  is  anxious  for  Mr.  Julius 
Pringle.  Of  that  gentleman,  whom  I  never  saw,  I  know  only 
VOL.  i. — 18 


178  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

that  he  was  considered,  when  pleading  before  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  as  extremely  wild,  and  that  he  has  assisted 
the  Yazoo  companies  with  his  professional  advice,  a  circumstance 
which  may  perhaps  have  some  weight  with  Mr.  Hampton.  The 
importance  of  filling  this  vacancy  with  a  Republican  and  a  man 
of  sufficient  talents  to  be  useful  is  obvious,  but  the  task  is  diffi 
cult.  As  there  are  now  two  circuits  without  a  residing  judge 
(the  circuit  of  Virginia  and  North  Carolina  having  yet  two),  the 
person  may  be  taken  from  either.  If  taken  from  the  2d  district, 
Brockholst  Livingston  is  certainly  first  in  point  of  talents,  and, 
as  he  is  a  State  judge,  would  accept.  If  taken  from  the  6th 
district,  unless  you  know  some  proper  person,  inquiry  will  be 
necessary.  Parker,  the  district  attorney,  seems  qualified,  but  he 
is  a  Federalist. 

I  am  told  that  the  practice  is  as  loose  in  Georgia  as  in  New 
England,  and  that  a  real  lawyer  could  not  easily  be  found  there. 
But  South  Carolina  stands  high  in  that  respect,  at  least  in 
reputation. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSOX.i 

DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  February  21,  1804. 
DEAR  SIR, — Dr.  Stevens's  case  shall  receive  a  full  and  candid 
investigation.  But  it  embraces  several  important  considerations 
both  as  to  constitution  and  law  and  as  to  facts ;  and  I  fear  that 
I  may  not  have  time  to  apply  my  mind  to  it  before  the  nu 
merous  Congressional  subjects  with  which  I  am  still  engaged 
shall  have  been  disposed  of.  So  far  as  relates  to  this  Depart 
ment  it  must  go  through  two  stages,  viz.,  settlement  of  accounts, 
and  payment.  Although  from  the  general  superintendence  vested 
in  the  Secretary  there  is  no  impropriety  in  his  interference,  and 
it  may  even  be  his  duty  in  certain  cases  to  interfere  in  questions 
arising  in  the  settlement  of  accounts,  in  this  instance,  whatever 

lSee  the  letter  to  which  this  is  in  answer,  in  Jefferson's  Writings,  iv.  528. 


1804.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  179 

my  opinion  may  be,  I  certainly  will  yield  to  yours  if,  after  a  full 
examination,  you  shall  differ;  and  will,  if  Mr.  Duval  assents, 
give  to  that  part  of  the  business  any  direction  you  may  think 
eligible.  Permit  me  at  the  same  time,  with  perfect  respect  and 
great  deference  to  your  judgment,  to  say  that,  so  far  as  relates 
to  payment,  this  being  a  question  of  appropriation  of  which 
the  Secretary7  of  the  Treasury  is,  in  the  nature  of  things,  left 
sole  judge,  and  for  which  he  is  alone  responsible,  it  seems  to 
me  just  that  on  that  point  he  should  be  permitted  to  act  in 
conformity  with  his  own  view  of  the  subject.  In  saying  this 
I  do  not  by  any  means  intend  to  prejudge  the  case  on  either 
of  the  questions  arising  under  it,  farther  than  I  have  already 
done,  and  I  certainly  will  reconsider  them  with  great  attention. 

I  enclose  some  letters  respecting  Banning,  which  left  a  very 
unfavorable  impression  on  my  mind.  I  have  no  doubt  that, 
after  having  misconstrued  the  law,  he  misrepresented  the  opinion 
I  had  given.  I  have  seen  him  ;  he  is  an  extremely  weak  young 
man ;  of  his  incapacity  you  need  not  entertain  any  doubt ;  his 
only  qualification  is  to  write  a  good  hand ;  and  he  is  extremely 
obnoxious.  I  enclose  a  letter  just  received  from  Mr.  Davies,  the 
collector  of  Norfolk.  Does  it  require  an  answer?  The  letters 
to  Mr.  Rodney  are  returned.  I  will  write  immediately  to  Mr. 
McCreery  respecting  Molier. 

If  a  Frenchman  is  to  be  chosen,  D'Herbigny  may,  I  think,  be 
trusted.  He  is  generally  esteemed,  writes  English  with  sufficient 
correctness,  and  is  with  us, — an  American  much  more  than  a 
Frenchman. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TREASURY,  15th  March,  1804. 
DEAR  SIR, — Conversing  with  Mr.  Madison  on  the  subject  of 
Mobile,  and  of  our  regulations  respecting  the  Mississippi,  he 
seemed  to  apprehend  some  difficulty  in  justifying  our  conduct, 
or  rather  instructions,  to  impartial  men. 


180  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

If  upon  a  full  consideration  of  the  subject  that  difficulty  shall 
be  obvious,  it  would  follow  that  we  have  not  taken  solid  ground. 

That  question  you  must  decide,  and  I  write  only  to  express 
a  wish  that  you  will  examine  it  as  if  it  had  not  yet  been 
decided. 

For,  should  you,  upon  the  wrhole,  think  it  best  not  to  persevere 
in  some  one  of  the  rules  we  had  adopted,  and  especially  in  that 
which  forbids  Spanish  vessels  ascending  the  Mississippi  to  Baton 
Rouge,  I  will  undertake  to  relieve  the  Executive  from  any  ap 
parent  fluctuation  by  writing  to  Trist  that  the  President,  upon 
full  consideration  of  the  instructions  which  /  had  given  to  the 
collector,  has  directed  me  to  alter  so  much  thereof,  &c. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

•  DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  28th  March,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — Under  the  law  providing  for  the  sale  of  lands 
in  the  Indiana  Territory,  three  new  land  offices  are  to  be  estab 
lished,  viz. :  at  Vincennes  for  the  tract  around  it,  at  Kaskaskia 
for  the  new  purchase  on  the  Mississippi  and  Ohio,  and  at  Detroit 
for  such  lands  as  are  public  property  in  that  quarter;  and  the 
register  and  receiver  are  made  commissioners  to  examine  exist 
ing  claims  to  lands  in  each  district  respectively,  and  to  report  to 
Congress. 

The  first  step  to  be  taken  in  relation  to  the  Detroit  district  is 
to  ascertain  whether  the  title  to  any  vacant  lands  has  been  ex 
tinguished,  and  to  authorize  some  line  of  demarcation  between 
the  Indians  and  the  United  States.  Until  that  shall  be  done  it 
is  not  practicable  for  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  give  any 
directions  to  the  Surveyor-General  respecting  the  surveys. 

It  is  also  necessary  to  ascertain  whether  no  other  Indian  tribe 
but  the  Kaskaskias  has  any  claim  to  the  large  purchase  on  the 
Mississippi  and  Ohio  before  the  Indian  boundary-line  can  be 
run  with  safety,  I  will  only  observe  that  in  relation  to  this  and 
the  other  district,  it  will  be  important  that  the  Indian  boundary- 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  181 

lines  should  be  run  under  the  direction  of  the  Surveyor-General, 
and  not  by  any  special  agent  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the 
War  Department.  The  powers  of  the  Surveyor-General  now  ex 
tend  to  the  whole  Indiana  Territory,  and  those  Indian  lines  being 
the  outlines  of  the  public  lands,  it  will  create  much  confusion 
unless  the  whole  shall  be  done  by  direction  of  one  person ;  the 
Surveyor-General  would,  of  course,  receive  on  that  subject  the 
instructions  from  the  War  Department,  if  any  shall  be  found 
necessary. 

The  Indian  boundary-line  of  the  public  lands  in  the  State  of 
Ohio  was  run  in  that  manner,  and  serves  to  connect  all  our  sur 
veys,  and  I  expect  that  the  surveyor  of  the  Mississippi  Terri 
tory  will  have  as  much  trouble  and  incur  as  much  expense  in 
tracing  General  Wilkinson's  boundary-lines  as  if  he  had  run 
them  originally  himself. 

The  Indian  boundary-line  of  the  Yincennes  tract  being  ascer 
tained,  the  Surveyor-General  will  be  instructed  immediately  to 
survey,  and  every  endeavor  used  to  have  the  claims  there  ex 
amined,  and  reported  to  Congress  next  fall,  so  that  the  public 
lands  may  be  ready  for  sale  early  in  1805. 

In  each  of  the  three  districts  a  register  and  receiver  will  be 
necessary  to  act  as  commissioners  on  the  claims;  but  as  they  will 
not  meet  in  that  character  and  as  a  board  till  September,  there  is 
time  enough  to  find  proper  characters  for  receivers.  The  registers, 
however,  as  they  are  to  receive,  file,  and  record  all  the  claims  of 
individuals,  should  be  appointed  as  early  as  possible,  in  order 
that  they  may  have  opened  their  offices  and  received  the  claims 
before  the  meeting  of  the  board.  This  is  especially  necessary  at 
Vincennes,  where  everything  else  is  ready.  At  neither  of  the 
three  places  do  I  know  any  person  fit  for  the  office:  there  will 
be  more  found,  however,  at  Detroit  than  in  either  of  the  other 
two.  A  Mr.  Bates,  brother  of  the  prothonotary  of  Pittsburgh, 
has  been  highly  recommended.  Mr.  Jewett,  unless  his  present 
office  is  better,  would  be  the  best  qualified  from  what  he  has 
already  done  there. 

For  the  office  of  register  at  Yincennes  permit  me  to  recom 
mend  to  you  John  Badollet,  of  Greene  County,  in  Pennsylvania. 
I  know  no  man  of  more  strict  integrity  or  better  qualified  for 


182  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

that  office,  and  he  has  long  been  desirous  to  remove  to  that  place, 
where  his  tried  Republicanism  would,  I  think,  be  useful. 

There  is  but  one  objection  to  him,  which  is  that  of  being  my 
intimate  personal  friend,  having  been  brought  up  at  college  with 
me  and  removed  to  the  United  States  a  short  time  after  me.  As 
to  language,  he  speaks  English  better  than  I  do,  and  has  been 
for  twelve  years  the  only  efficient  associate  judge  of  his  county. 
A  letter  on  that  subject  is  enclosed,  which  Mr.  Smilie  put  in  my 
hand  yesterday,  and  has  induced  me,  though  reluctantly,  to  make 
this  application. 

A  Dr.  Gano,  of  Kentucky,  was  recommended  for  receiver  at 
the  same  place;  but  he  is  liable  to  intoxication.  Mr.  Monroe 
has  recommended  a  Mr.  Michael  Jones  for  either  of  the  offices, 
and  Mr.  "Worth  ington  a  Mr.  Hoffman,  of  whom  I  have  heard 
Holmes  and  others  speak  highly,  and  who  is  now  clerk  of  their 
Legislature. 

There  is  also  an  agent  to  investigate  claims  and  defend  the 
United  States  against  frauds  in  that  respect  in  the  Mississippi 
Territory,  who  should  be  appointed  immediately.  There  is 
already  one  applicant,  a  Mr.  Easton,  of  New  York,  who  appears 
to  me,  from  his  looks  and  conversation,  an  amphibious  character ; 
and  one  person  has  been  recommended  whose  appearance  in  point 
of  talents,  &c.,  is  prepossessing,  a  Mr.  John  Taylor  Lomax,  of 
Port  Royal,  in  Virginia. 

A  surveyor  of  customs  is  to  be  appointed  at  Marblehead,  but 
Crowninshield  requests  that  we  may  wait  till  we  hear  from  him 
on  that  subject. 

A  collector  at  Mobile  should  also  be  appointed.  If  Mr.  Nich 
olas  is  to  be  the  man,  there  will  be  no  difficulty,  and  the  district 
may  be  created  at  once. 

It  would  have  the  good  effect  to  prove  to  Spain,  by  making 
Fort  Stoddart  the  port  of  entry,  that  we  have  no  intention  to 
exercise  jurisdiction  under  the  17th  Section  of  the  revenue  law 
within  the  Territories  in  her  possession. 

These  do,  I  believe,  constitute  all  the  objects  immediately 
pertaining  to  the  Treasury  Department  which  may  require  your 
attention  before  your  departure. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


1804.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  183 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  5th  April,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  sincerely  hope  that  you  have  on  your  arrival 
found  Mrs.  Eppes  in  a  fair  way  of  recovering.  The  weather  and 
city  have  been  gloomy  enough  since  your  departure ;  and  Mrs.  G. 
is  anxious  that  I  should  take  her  to  New  York.  If  I  can  pos 
sibly  complete  in  time  the  business  and  arrangements  resulting 
from  the  laws  of  last  session,  I  will  try  to  do  it  early  enough 
to  be  back  here  when  you  shall  return. 

Messrs.  Duponceau,  Barnwell,  and  Lomax  have  been  written 
to.  Nothing  new  in  this  Department  beyond  the  mere  routine 
of  business. 

I  enclose  some  very  lengthy,  though  crude  and  ill-arranged, 
observations  on  Dr.  Stevens's  claim.  Yet  the  argument  drawn 
from  his  mission  not  being  to  the  authorized  government  of  a 
foreign  nation,  appears  to  me  conclusive  to  prove  the  impropriety 
of  applying  to  that  object  the  moneys  appropriated  for  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations.  And  the  more  I  have  considered  the  case 
the  more  have  I  been  convinced  that  it  was  a  claim  sui  generis, 
a  decision  on  which  could  affect  no  other ;  that  none  of  a  similar 
kind  in  all  of  its  parts  had  ever  been  admitted  by  mere  Executive 
authority,  and  that  it  seemed  to  be,  in  a  peculiar  manner,  one 
that  wanted  legislative  sanction. 

He  called  on  me  last  Sunday,  and  I  mentioned  my  opinion  to 
him ;  he  rather  acquiesced,  except  in  that  which  related  to  the 
evidence  of  a  contract.  On  that  part  of  the  subject  I  might 
have  added  some  further  observations. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

Enclosed  you  will  also  find  copies  of  all  papers  in  the  Treasury 
which  relate  to  Dr.  Stevens's  claim. 


184  WHITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  12th  April,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  enclosed  letters  from  Governor  Claiborne 
to  Mr.  Madison  were  communicated  to  me  with  a  request  that 
they  should  be  transmitted  to  you.  On  the  subject  of  the  seamen, 
Mr.  Trist  will  receive  the  proper  instructions  as  soon  as  Dr.  Barn- 
welFs  answer  shall  have  been  obtained.  But  Mr.  Claiborne's 
conduct  respecting  the  establishment  of  a  bank  appears  inexpli 
cable,  for  you  will  find  by  the  enclosed  paragraph  of  a  New  York 
paper  that,  without  waiting  for  an  answer,  he  has  already  author 
ized  the  institution.  In  so  doing,  he  appears  to  me  to  have 
exceeded  his  powers ;  and  he  has  thereby,  without  his  knowledge, 
it  is  true,  acted  contrary  to  the  intention,  and  even  to  an  act  of 
Congress,  and  will  probably  defeat  the  establishment  of  a  branch 
bank,  which  we  considered  of  great  importance  to  the  safety  of 
the  revenue,  and  as  a  bond  of  union  between  the  Atlantic  and 
Mississippi  interests. 

His  powers  were  no  greater  than  those  of  a  Spanish  governor 
or  intendant ;  and  these  were  confined  to  temporary  ordinances, 
and  not  to  the  making  of  laws  of  a  permanent  nature,  much 
less  to  granting  charters  which  could  not  be  revoked  by  a  suc 
cessor.  The  argument  indeed  of  the  governor,  drawn  from  the 
general  power  of  passing  ordinances  for  the  improvement  of  the 
province,  shows  that  only  temporary  ordinances  and  such  as 
might  be  revoked  would  have  been  meant,  otherwise  it  would 
have  been  a  complete  transfer  of  the  legislative  authority.  But 
Mr.  Claiborne  knew  also  that  the  powers  vested  in  him  were  so 
loosely  defined  through  necessity  alone,  and  on  account  of  the 
urgency  of  the  case ;  he  knew  that  they  were  given  for  a  short 
time,  and  that  every  mail  might  supersede  them  by  the  arrival 
of  a  law  establishing  a  permanent  form  of  government ;  he  must 
have  been  fully  aware  that  an  Executive  charter  was  unknown  to 
our  government,  and  he  should  have  felt  that  of  all  acts  of 
government  none  perhaps  was  more  delicate,  none  required 
greater  discretion  and  caution  to  guard  it  against  improper  spec 
ulations,  than  the  granting  of  a  bank  charter.  It  seems  inex- 


1804.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  185 

disable  that  he  should,  under  all  those  circumstances,  have  abused 
the  confidence  vested  by  the  Legislature  in  the  Executive,  and 
by  the  Executive  in  him,  by  doing  an  act  of  the  highest  legisla 
tive  nature,  and  one  which  (except  by  himself)  cannot  be  revoked, 
without  even  consulting  the  President  or  Secretary  of  State ;  and 
I  cannot  account  for  this  strange  conduct  in  any  other  way  than 
by  ascribing  it  to  the  arrival  and  influence  of  Edward  Living 
ston.  The  speculation  shall  have  been  forcibly  pressed  on  the 
governor,  and  he  has,  unfortunately,  yielded.  I  wish  that,  at 
least,  he  may  not  be  personally  concerned,  but  have  been  in 
formed,  through  Lyon's  channel,  that  General  Wilkinson  was 
interested  in  it. 

That  the  Legislature  had  in  view  the  establishment  of  a 
branch  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  is  evident  from  their 
acts ;  and  the  law  which  extends  to  the  ceded  Territories  the 
operation  of  all  the  acts  concerning  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  precludes,  during  the  continuance  of  its  charter,  the  es 
tablishment  of  any  other  bank  in  the  said  Territories.  The 
establishment  of  a  branch  was  so  advantageous  to  the  revenue, 
and,  on  account  of  the  distance,  so  inconvenient  to  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States,  that  it  is  with  great  difficulty,  and  by  making 
arrangements  for  the  sole  purpose  of  surmounting  the  difficul 
ties  in  the  way,  that  I  was  able  to  prevail  on  that  institution 
to  assent  to  the  measure.  Much  do  I  apprehend  that  they  will 
seize  this  opportunity  of  refusing  to  proceed ;  and  it  is  truly 
vexatious  that  the  plans  of  this  Department,  carried  under  the 
sanction  of  a  law,  should  be  defeated  by  such  unexpected  and 
unauthorized  interference.  I  will  write  to  Governor  Claiborne, 
but  can  only  write  a  private  letter,  as  there  is  no  connection 
between  his  office  and  the  Treasury.  My  idea  is  that  he  should, 
by  virtue  of  the  same  authority  which  granted,  revoke  the 
charter,  leaving  the  Louisiana  bank  on  the  footing  of  a  private 
association. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


186  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  April  15,  1804. 

DEAK  SIR, — According  to  the  letter  of  Mr.  Wagner  enclosed 
in  yours  of  the  7th  inst.,  on  the  subject  of  the  misnomer  of  the 
inspector  for  Indian  town,  a  commission  should  have  been  en 
closed  ;  but  none  came.  Neither  of  those  letters  mention  either 
the  real  or  mistaken  name,  nor  does  my  memory  help  me  to 
either,  and  I  have  no  papers  here  which  can  recall  the  case  to 
my  mind.  I  can  only  observe  generally,  therefore,  that  if  the 
name  given  to  the  Senate  was  true  as  far  as  it  went,  but  de 
fective  in  an  intermediate  initial  only,  I  should  doubt  the  neces 
sity  of  a  renom ination 'to  them,  because,  although  the  name  is 
the  usual  and  best  means  of  designating  a  person,  yet  the  law 
allows  it  to  be  supplied  where  defective,  or  even  corrected  where 
wrong,  by  any  other  evidence  sufficient  to  establish  the  identity. 
It  is  probable  that  circumstances  of  residence,  or  of  character, 
or  of  some  other  definite  mark,  would  show  that  both  the  Ex 
ecutive  and  Senate  had  the  same  individual  in  their  mind  on 
whom  they  meant  to  bestow  the  office.  However,  till  I  know 
the  degree  of  misnomer,  and  whether  there  exists  any  other  per 
son  to  whom  the  designation  of  name  and  other  characteristics 
would  apply,  I  cannot  say  what  had  best  be  done.  I  presume 
the  commissions  will  come  in  both  forms ;  it  may  be  added  that 
to  fill  by  a  temporary  commission  an  office  which  became  vacant 
during  the  session  of  the  Senate,  though  sometimes  done  in 
cases  of  unavoidable  necessity,  is  yet  against  the  letter  of  the 
Constitution,  and  as  much  an  irregularity  as  to  disregard  a 
literal  error  in  a  name. 

I  have  read  with  attention  your  observations  on  Dr.  Stevens's 
case,  but  have  not  as  yet  had  time  to  weigh  them  fully ;  prima 
facie,  I  think  your  outworks  stronger  than  your  main  citadel. 
The  want  of  the  best  evidence  which  the  nature  of  the  case 
admits,  and  the  illegitimate  character  of  that  adduced,  are  cir 
cumstances  to  which  my  attention  had  not  been  drawn  by  any 
thing  which  had  preceded.  Should  they  ultimately  prove  a 
bar,  the  case  may  go  off  without  a  decision  on  the  principle 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  187 

which  had  been  in  question.  Though  still  I  think  we  had  better 
endeavor  at  some  such  modification  of  the  principle  as,  uniting 
practicability  with  legal  authority  and  constitutional  safety,  may 
enable  us  to  act  in  union. 

W.  C.  N.  called  on  me  two  days  ago ;  he  had  not  completely 
made  up  his  mind,  and,  mentioning  that  he  proposed  to  go  to 
the  spot  to  satisfy  himself,  expressed  a  wish  that  he  could  re 
ceive  the  commission  there,  and  accept  or  decline  it  according 
to  the  judgment  he  should  then  have  formed.  I  told  him  that 
was  impossible,  because  we  held  ourselves  in  duty  bound  to  per 
mit  the  incumbent  to  resign,  which  would  require  probably  to 
the  end  of  May  before  a  new  commission  could  be  in  his  hands. 
On  that  consideration,  which  he  approved,  he  declined  his  jour 
ney,  and  I  told  him  I  would  ask  the  favor  of  you  to  take  im 
mediate  measures  to  wind  up  the  present  commission  with  as 
little  delay  as  should  be  consistent  with  a  resignation.  We  may 
therefore  now  consider  his  determination  as  fixed,  and  awaiting 
only  your  movements. 

A  letter  from  Leghorn  of  February  4  informed  me  Preble 
had  taken  a  Tripoline  vessel  with  seventy  men,  bound  to  Con 
stantinople  with  presents  to  the  Grand  Signior.  I  wish  he  had 
had  the  boldness  to  send  the  presents  in  a  vessel  of  ours  to  the 
Grand  Signior,  as  an  offering  of  our  respect ;  perhaps  (as  they 
must  still  exist  in  form)  we  should  do  well  to  order  it  now, 
accompanying  them  with  a  letter  from  the  Secretary  of  State 
to  their  Minister  of  Foreign  Affairs.  Accept  my  affectionate 
salutations  and  assurances  of  respect. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  WASHINGTON,  16th  April,  1804. 
DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  a  correspondence  with  Mr.  Merry  re 
specting  the  mode  of  collecting  duties  in  Canada,  and  a  letter  con 
cerning  Commodore  Whipple,  which  I  presume  to  be  the  result 
of  some  inquiries  on  your  part.  The  subject  of  the  Louisiana 
intruders  is  very  delicate.  The  law  will  not  be  in  force  till 


188  WKITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1804. 

October,  and  the  first  question  is  whether  the  governor  or  any 
other  inferior  authority  of  Louisiana  had  under  the  Spanish 
government  the  power  to  remove  persons  settling  on  the  public 
lands  without  leave.  Without  having  any  positive  knowledge 
of  the  fact,  I  take  it  for  granted  that  they  had.  If  so,  it  seems 
better  to  prevent  than  to  exclude.  Power  might  be  given  and 
instructions  transmitted  to  remove  immediately  all  those  who 
would  settle  on  public  lands  after  the  date  of  the  proclamation 
to  be  issued  on  the  subject, — the  proclamation  to  give  a  certain 

time  to  all  intruders  who  might  have  settled  between  

December  last  and  the  date  of  the  proclamation.  With  vigi 
lance  the  officers  may  be  strong  enough  to  drive  away  one  by  one 
every  person  who  shall  intrude  on  the  lands  subsequent  to  the 
day  proclaimed ;  and  perhaps  they  might  fail  in  an  attempt  to 
remove  those  who  were  intruders  previous  to  that  date.  Per 
haps  some  discretion  might  be  given  to  the  officers.  If  the 
settlements  are  on  the  river,  a  boat  going  up  and  down  might  be 
useful.  The  small  force  of  the  United  States  did  actually  pre 
vent  any  settlement  on  the  north  of  the  Ohio,  except  on  lands 
purchased  from  Congress,  from  1783  till  1795. 

From  1783  till  1786  the  Indians  were  not  dangerous,  and 
repeated  attempts  were  made  to  settle.  A  company  was  kept 
going  up  and  down  the  Ohio  from  the  Pennsylvania  line  down 
to  Cincinnati ;  they  had  to  burn  every  cabin ;  in  some  instances, 
though  not  generally,  they  laid  down  or  burnt  the  fences ;  the 
men  generally  absconded,  and  the  women  and  children  wrere 
taken  across  the  river  to  the  next  settlement,  which  usually  was 
just  opposite.  But  it  was  necessary  to  repeat  the  operation,  and 
I  know  persons  whose  cabins  were  burnt  and  settlement  de 
stroyed  three  times.  No  blood  was  shed,  and  the  perseverance 
of  the  troops  gained  the  point. 

There  is,  however,  here  a  greater  difficulty.  In  the  case  I 
have  mentioned,  every  person  found  north  of  the  Ohio  was  an 
intruder,  and  liable  to  be  removed ;  now  it  will  be  more  difficult 
to  discriminate. 

At  all  events,  I  think  that  a  general  proclamation  from  your 
self  should  precede  military  expulsion :  it  would  certainly  have 
a  powerful  effect. 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  189 

Mr.  Duponceau  declines  going  to  Louisiana.     Dr.  Barnwell 
will  go. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON  TO  GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  April  27,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  return  you  the  papers  concerning  the  duties 
payable  in  the  Western  ports,  and  consider  the  opinion  you  have 
given  as  a  sound  one. 

The  case  of  the  Louisiana  squatters  is  a  serious  one  from  its 
magnitude,  yet  to  be  touched  with  a  hand  as  careful  as  firm.  A 
proclamation  must  doubtless  precede  any  act  of  force.  The  cases 
may  be  analyzed  in  the  following  gradation :  1st.  Squatters  since 
notice  of  the  Treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso,  without  any  authority. 
2d.  Possessions  taken  under  regular  forms,  but  of  dates  sub 
sequent  to  notice  of  the  treaty.  3d.  Possessions  under  regular 
forms,  of  dates  prior  to  that  notice,  but  liable  to  suspicion  of 
being  antedated.  As  to  the  first  class  there  can  be  no  doubt; 
and  little,  I  think,  as  to  the  second.  The  third  alone  will 
require  care.  They  may  be  subdivided  into  settlements  already 
made,  and  those  which  may  be  now  attempted  to  be  made;  the 
last  may  be  prevented  with  more  boldness,  but  the  former  would 
require  judgment  and  temper.  Yet  they  are  probably  the  most 
material  to  break  up.  As  we  are  to  appoint  commandants  to 
take  place  October  1,  if  we  should  select  the  best  of  those,  and 
send  him  immediately  with  the  powers  of  a  Lieutenant-Governor 
of  Upper  Louisiana,  but  under  such  a  title  as  their  laws  recog 
nize,  I  think  we  might  trust  him  with  this  power;  either  giving 
him  original  or  appellate  powers  from  the  present  military 
officers.  Among  the  persons  talked  of  between  General  Dear 
born  and  myself  for  future  commandants,  Thomas  Blount  is 
the  one  who,  I  think,  possesses  the  most,  understanding  and 
discretion.  I  should  not  fear  to  trust  him.  He  might  accept, 
perhaps,  on  an  assurance  of  succeeding  as  colonel  commandant. 
As  I  shall  be  with  you  in  a  fortnight,  it  may  be  thought  of  till 


190  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

then.  I  meant  to  be  understood  in  my  former  letter  that  though 
W.  C.  N.  had  wished  to  be  allowed  to  make  up  his  mind  finally 
after  arriving  at  the  spot,  yet,  when  I  informed  him  that  could 
not  be,  he  came  at  once  to  a  decision  to  accept.  He  wishes  to  be 
there  as  soon  as  possible,  because  he  fears  the  putting  the  office 
in  order  may  take  considerable  time,  and  detain  him  there  in  the 
sickly  season,  which  he  would  much  dread  in  the  beginning ; 
consequently,  the  sooner  the  change  can  now  be  made  and 
notified  to  him,  the  better.  Accept  my  affectionate  salutations 
and  assurances  of  great  respect. 


GALLATIN    TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  3d  May,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — Finding  your  return  somewhat  retarded,  my  anx 
iety  to  take  Mrs.  Gallatin  to  her  father  and  to  place  my  children 
at  school  induces  me  to  go  now,  as  I  presume  I  could  not  have 
left  this  city  for  some  weeks  after  your  return.  I  expect  to 
be  absent  three  weeks  from  this  day,  and  hope  I  shall  not  be 
wanted  during  that  time.  Finding  the  business  of  the  super 
visor  of  Massachusetts  brought  to  a  close,  I  have  anticipated 
your  decision  and  written  to  him  that  his  office  was  suppressed. 
I  was  prevented  from  doing  the  same  in  Tennessee  and  Virginia 
only  on  account  of  the  provisions  enacted  last  session  respecting 
the  redemption  of  lands  sold  for  non-payment  of  taxes.  The 
necessary  arrangements  have  been  made  to  carry  into  effect  the 
land  and  revenue  laws  of  last  session,  with  two  exceptions, 
viz.,  the  appointment  of  a  register  at  Detroit  and  of  an  agent  at 
Natchez.  For  the  first  office  there  are  two  characters  at  Detroit, 
Bates  and  Lewis  Bond.  The  first  is  preferable,  so  far  as  I  can 
judge,  but  may  be  wanted  for  receiver.  For  the  other  office, 
Mr.  Poindexter,  attorney-general  of  the  Territory,  is  recom 
mended  by  Mr.  Briggs  and  by  Mr.  Williams.  The  remittances 
for  the  Dutch  debt  are  paid  for,  and  made  so  as  to  meet  all 
demands  there  till  1st  June,  1805,  and  the  instalment  of  Sep 
tember,  1805,  will  be  anticipated  and  paid  this  year. 


1804.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  191 

In  every  arrangement  not  connected  with  this  Department 
which  may  be  adopted,  I  have  but  one  observation,  which  is  to 
request  that  the  Treasury  may  not  be  pressed  this  year  beyond 
our  former  calculations.  The  Norfolk  act  will  cause  some  defal 
cation  this  year.  I  allow  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  for  the  equipment  of  the  four  additional 
frigates:  he  wants  four  hundred  thousand  dollars;  but  that  is  too 
much,  as  he  pays  them  only  four  months'  pay  and  about  three 
months'  provisions.  Those  together  make  a  considerable  sum 
beyond  the  estimate  of  last  year,  and,  although  the  revenue  ex 
ceeds  our  calculations,  the  exportation  and  debentures  this  winter 
and  spring  are  very  large.  But  it  is  not  only  on  account  of  the 
Treasury  that  I  wish  an  abstinence  of  expenses:  it  is  on  account 
of  the  prodigious  drain  of  specie,  principally  dollars,  which  has 
taken  place  and  continues.  There  are  not  at  present  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  in  dollars  in  Philadelphia,  New  York,  and  Bos 
ton  put  together.  More  than  three  millions  of  dollars  have  been 
exported  within  six  months  from  the  vaults  of  the  Bank  of  the 
United  States  alone,  and  our  second  instalment  to  Great  Britain 
will  in  July  take  nearly  nine  hundred  thousand  dollars  more. 
The  principal  cause  of  the  drain  is  that  no  specie  has  been  last 
year  or  is  now  imported  either  from  the  British  or  Spanish 
American  colonies.  Under  those  circumstances,  it  is  highly 
desirable  to  leave  as  large  deposits  with  the  bank  as  the  public 
service  will  permit.  If  we  press  them  hard,  they  must  curtail 
their  discounts  suddenly  to  an  extent  equally  injurious  to  com 
merce  and  our  revenue. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 


YORK,  llth  May,  1804. 
DEAR  SIR,  —  On  receipt  of  your  letter  of  the  27th  ultimo, 
which  was,  I  think,  on   the  2d   instant,  I  had  immediately  a 
commission  issued  in  Mr.  Nicholas's  name  and  transmitted  to 
him  at  Warren,  and  by  same  mail  wrote  to  Mr.  Davies  that  his 


192  WHITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1804. 

resignation  would  be  accepted.  It  is  not  practicable  to  recall 
the  proceedings. 

I  never  had  thought  Mr.  Nicholson  equal  to  the  office  of 
Commissioner  of  Loans,  and,  on  hearing  of  his  long  sickness, 
repeatedly  urged  a  resignation.  I  find  him  so  weak  and  so 
incapable  to  attend  to  the  duties  of  the  office,  that  I  consider 
him  as  having  been  at  the  mercy  of  his  clerks  for  several  months. 
He  informs  me  that  he  has  sent  a  resignation  to  you.  Permit 
me,  from  public  and  personal  motives,  to  urge  the  necessity  of 
an  early  appointment. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  Mr.  Crowninshield  recommending  a 
proper  person  as  surveyor  of  Marblehead,  a  new  office  created 
last  session.  I  presume  that  his  recommendation  may  be  con 
sidered  as  unexceptionable.  Two  commissions  are  necessary, 

viz.,  surveyor  of  the of  Marblehead,  and  inspector  of  the 

revenue  for  the  port  of  do. 

I  dislike  so  much  the  appointment  of  military  commandants 
in  Upper  Louisiana,  and,  perhaps  for  that  reason,  think  so  prob 
able  that  the  system  will  soon  be  repealed,  that  the  choice  of 
proper  persons  has  not  appeared  to  me  to  be  of  first-rate  im 
portance.  Yet  the  reputation  of  the  Administration  seems  to 
require  that  public  opinion  in  North  Carolina  should  have 
pronounced  in  favor  of  Thomas  Blount  in  relation  to  the  un 
fortunate  land  business  in  which  his  name  was  connected  with 
that  of  his  brother.  I  do  not  know  how  that  fact  stands,  but 
would  like  to  know  Macon's  and  Franklin's  opinion.  I  feel 
friendly  disposed  and  strongly  prejudiced  in  his  favor,  and  have 
no  doubt  of  his  being  qualified.  Another  man,  Seth  Hunt,  has 
been  mentioned.  I  know  nothing  of  him;  but  I  discovered 
that  lie  was  so  obnoxious  to  all  our  Southern  friends,  and  he  is 
so  much  so  to  the  Eastern  Federalists,  that  if  his  appointment 
depends  on  a  confirmation  of  the  Senate,  I  would  doubt  its 
being  ratified. 

It  is  generally  believed  that  this  State  will  return  fifteen 
Republican  members,  and  only  two  Federalists,  Rensselaer  and 
Livingston.  McCord,  under  an  unjust  suspicion  of  Burrism, 
has  lost  his  election,  and  Thomas,  by  recanting,  has  escaped. 
Root  and  Patterson  are  both  turned  out ;  but  Palmer  has  also 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  193 

lost  his  election ;  his  opponent  is,  however,  a  firm  Republican, 
named  Sailly,  a  French  Canadian,  settled  since  the  war  on  Lake 
Champlain.  All  the  returns  are  not,  however,  complete,  and, 
as  there  are  ten  new  members,  the  politics  of  some  may  not  be 
fully  understood.  Unfortunately,  there  is  very  little  accession  of 
talents.  Tompkins  and  Sailly  are  said  to  be  the  best.  Hardly 
expecting  to  see  again  Mr.  Nicholson,  it  is  with  difficulty  I  can 
immediately  leave  this  place ;  but  will  not,  however,  exceed  the 
time  I  mentioned,  and  expect  to  be  at  Washington  on  the  24th. 
With  great  attachment  and  sincere  respect,  your  obedient 
servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  30th  May,  1804. 

DEAR  SIE, — I  had  selected  Dowlf  's  name  for  the  very  reason 
you  mentioned ;  having  conjectured  that  his  politics  were  prefer 
able  from  Fairley's  recommendation,  and  that  Lowell's  were  not 
from  being  particularly  recommended  by  Lincoln.  Otherwise 
they  are  so  equal  that  that  consideration  might  reasonably  be 
allowed  to  give  the  preference.  The  doctrine  as  it  respects 
Bowen  had,  it  seems  to  me,  better  be  understood  than  avowed.1 
So  many  local  and  particular  considerations  which  cannot  always 
be  explained,  and  if  explained  may  be  misunderstood,  form 
exceptions  to  any  general  rule  on  that  subject,  that  I  think  it 
safer  silemJy  to  follow  yours,  so  far  as  practicable,  than  to  make 
an  explicit  declaration  which  will  open  a  new  field  of  attack 
against  us.  Whenever  a  man  of  that  description  is  removed, 
let  it  be  understood  generally  that  he  continued  actively  opposed; 
and  that  will  forever  justify  the  act  with  all  our  friends  without 
any  positive  declaration  ;  on  the  other  hand,  should  the  declara 
tion  be  made,  either  General  Lincoln  (not  to  mention  several 
others)  must  be  removed,  or  an  explanation  given  why,  after 
his  indecent  and  outrageous  conduct,  he  is  permitted  to  remain 
in  office. 

1  See  the  letter  to  which  this  is  in  answer,  in  Jefferson's  Writings,  iv.  543. 
VOL.  i — 14 


194  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

The  name  of  Hoffman,  to  whom  it  is  intended  to  offer  the 
office  of  register  of  the  land  office  at  Detroit,  is  George. 

If  a  commission  issues  in  favor  of  General  Skinner,  he  should 
be  written  to  repair  immediately  to  Boston,  and  to  send  his  bond, 
in  order  that  we  may  remit  to  him  in  time  the  sums  wanted  to 
pay  the  dividends  on  1st  July.  Some  inconvenience  was  experi 
enced  when  Mr.  Jones  was  appointed,  which,  had  it  taken  place 
in  Boston,  and  any  delay  in  paying  the  dividends  been  the  con 
sequence,  would  have  produced  a  monstrous  clamor. 

Indeed,  it  would,  on  that  account,  be  much  more  eligible  to 
delay  the  commission  till  1st  July.  For  Perkins  may  throw  great 
difficulties  in  his  way  at  the  end  of  the  quarter;  as  all  the  calcu 
lations  of  dividends  are  made  out  the  last  fortnight.  This  may 
be  explained  to  General  Skinner  as  the  reason  of  the  delay,  and 
I  would  recommend  that  mode. 

Shall  I  take  measures  to  procure  a  cutter  for  New  Orleans  ? 
If  so,  I  would  purchase  a  proper  vessel  in  Baltimore  or  Norfolk, 
and  at  once  man  and  send  her  from  thence.  Those  two  ports 
are  those  where  the  swift-sailing  pilot  schooners  are  built. 

Your  decision  respecting  the  keeper  of  the  light-house  at 
Penobscot  is  also  wanted.  I  enclose  the  blank  form  of  an  act 
to  fix  a  land  office  at  St.  Stephen's.  Another  is  preparing  for  the 
erection  of  Mobile  into  a  district. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  7th  June,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  the  copy  of  a  letter 
received  from  the  collector  of  Philadelphia,  by  which  it  appears 
that  vessels  bound  to  Hispaniola  are  generally  armed,  and  that 
he  has  thought  it  proper  to  require  bonds  and  security  from  the 
owners  that  they  shall  not  commit  any  acts  of  hostility  against 
the  subjects  of  powers  at  peace  with  the  United  States.  As  the 
collector  requests  instructions  on  that  subject,  permit  me  to  sub 
mit  it  to  your  consideration  and  decision.  It  does  not  seem  that 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  195 

bonds  unauthorized  by  law  can  add  any  substantial  security  for 
the  good  behavior  of  the  parties ;  and  the  only  case  in  which 
such  bonds  can  be  legally  required  is  that  provided  by  the  3d 
Section  of  the  Act  of  February  6,  1802.  For  the  Act  "to 
authorize  the  defence  of  the  merchant  vessels  of  the  United 
States  against  French  depredations/7  passed  on  the  25th  June, 
1798,  and  by  which  it  had  been  made  a  general  provision  that 
in  no  case  whatever  armed  merchant  vessels  should  clear  out 
without  having  given  bond  for  their  peaceable  conduct  with 
friendly  nations,  and  for  the  return,  of  their  guns  and  ammu 
nition,  has  expired  ever  since  the  3d  day  of  May,  1802. 

Both  those  laws  seem,  from  the  language  used,  to  have  sup 
posed  that,  either  by  the  law  of  nations  or  by  Executive  per 
mission,  merchants  might,  independent  of  the  laws,  arm  their 
vessels.  Certain  it  is  that  the  Executive  of  the  United  States 
has  heretofore  acted  as  having  a  discretionary  authority  in  those 
cases;  as  early  as  1793,  and  afterwards  again  in  1797,  private 
armaments,  except  for  the  East  Indies,  were  absolutely  forbid 
den  by  the  President,  and  the  order  enforced  by  directing  the 
collectors  to  refuse  clearance  to  armed  vessels,  and  in  1798,  pre 
vious  to  the  Act  of  25th  June  of  that  year,  and  to  any  legis 
lative  interference,  those  orders  were  revoked  by  the  President, 
and  private  vessels  permitted  to  arm  generally. 

The  Act  of  June  25, 1798,  then  took  place,  and  on  its  expira 
tion  the  last  orders  of  the  President  were  considered  as  being 
in  force.  On  that  footing  the  matter  now  stands,  and  vessels 
are  permitted  to  arm  in  conformity  with  the  Executive  instruc 
tions  of  the  spring  1798.  It  is  not  believed  that  the  discre 
tion  which  has  been  thus  exercised  can  be  perfectly  reconciled 
to  fixed  principles.  If  the  law  of  nations  or  any  municipal 
statute  rendered  the  instructions  of  1793  and  1797  necessary, 
the  instructions  of  1798  were  given  in  opposition  to  that  law  or 
statute.  If  private  armaments  by  neutrals  are  not  forbidden 
by  the  law  of  nations,  nor  the  supposed  right  directly  or  im- 
pliedly  taken  from  the  citizens  of  the  United  States  by  statute, 
it  is  not  easy  to  account  for  the  instructions  of  1793  and  1797. 

In  order  to  lay  the  subject  fully  before  you,  I  will  only  add 
that  if  it  shall  be  your  opinion  that  the  law  of  nations  forbids 


196  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

neutrals  to  arm,  except  in  certain  cases,  such  as  the  East  Indies, 
the  Mediterranean,  &c.,  but  that  the  situation  of  Hispaniola  is 
now  assimilated  to  that  of  the  places  where  they  may  arm,  yet 
the  instructions  of  1798  might  require  some  revision,  as  they 
permit  generally  to  arm. 

I  must  acknowledge  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  form  a  satis 
factory  opinion  on  the  subject,  although  I  incline  to  the  belief 
that  the  right  of  arming  is  in  no  case  forbidden  or  controlled  by 
the  law  of  nations. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

June  9,  1804. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

Will  you  give  to  the  enclosed  observations  of  Mr.  Madison 
as  [careful  ?]  a  perusal  as  you  can  ?  I  have  always  been  in 
hopes  that  you  and  he  would  by  discussion  come  to  a  common 
opinion.  I  suppose,  however,  this  has  not  taken  place,  and  the 
views  of  our  Constitution  in  preferring  a  single  Executive  to  a 
plurality  having  been  to  prevent  the  effect  of  divided  opinions, 
and  to  insure  an  unity  of  purpose  and  action,  I  presume  I  must 
decide  between  the  opinions,  however  reluctantly.  I  take  for 
granted  everything  has  been  now  stated  which  can  affect  the 
case.  If  you  think  so  after  perusal  of  this,  I  will  proceed  to 
consider  the  case  finally,  deciding  only  on  principles,  and  leaving 
to  the  Comptroller  to  investigate  facts  and  apply  the  principles 
to  them.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 


TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  llth  June,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR,— I  enclose  the  sketch  of  a  letter  for  Mr.  Muhlen- 
berg.     I  do  not  know  whether  I  understand  fully  your  inten- 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  197 

tion,  and  beg  that  you  will  correct.  Instead  of  security  being 
mentioned  in  the  last  sentence,  ought  not  the  word  recognizance 
be  introduced  ?  I  do  not  know  the  technical  phrase.  But  if 
Muhlenberg  is  so  answered,  should  not  a  circular  be  written  ? 
and  if  so,  must  it  be  grounded  on  the  Hispaniola  armaments,  or 
on  a  more  general  cause  ? 

Although  I  believe  that  the  receiver  Tupper  is  not  the  same 
man  to  whom  Mr.  Russell  alludes  in  the  enclosed  letter,  and 
that  swindler  Tupper  must  be  the  man  lately  arrived  in  New 
Orleans,  and  who  has  been  troublesome  in  the  slave  business, 
yet,  as  the  Christian  name  is  the  same,  and  I  wish  to  investigate 
the  subject,  I  will  thank  you  to  have  the  goodness  to  lend  me 
the  recommendations  in  his  favor.  I  also  return  Mr.  Madison's 
observations  on  Dr.  Stevens's  case.  I  do  not  perceive  that  they 
affect  my  argument ;  but  do  not  intend  to  add  a  word  more  on 
the  merits  of  the  case,  or  to  give  you  the  trouble  of  a  formal 
decision.  In  the  settlement  of  the  account  I  shall  no  longer 
interfere,  and  will  leave  the  Comptroller  to  settle  it  in  his  own 
way  or  under  the  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  The 
payment,  which  was  the  only  part  of  the  subject  for  which  a 
personal  responsibility  could  attach  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  cannot,  at  all  events,  be  made  until  money  shall  have 
been  appropriated,  as  the  diplomatic  fund,  as  it  is  commonly 
called  (appropriation  for  foreign  intercourse),  is  so  poor  that  we 
will  hardly  be  able  to  pay  the  current  expenses  of  the  year  with 
the  existing  appropriations. 

The  appropriations  of  1801,  1802,  1803,  have  amounted  to 
224,612  dollars;  the  payments  from  the  Treasury  to  228,394; 
and  at  the  end  of  the  year  1803  we  were  76,000  guilders  in 
debt  to  the  Amsterdam  bankers  on  that  account.  The  appro 
priation  for  this  year  is  only  46,000  dollars. 

But  to  whatever  amount  the  claim  may  be  settled,  it  may  be 
incorporated  in  the  annual  estimate  of  next  year,  and  there  will 
be  no  difficulty  in  obtaining  the  appropriation. 

If  in  this  business  I  have  been  too  zealous  or  obstinate,  I  feel 
a  confidence  that  you  will  ascribe  it  to  the  proper  motive,  and 
not  to  want  of  a  due  respect  for  the  opinions  of  others.  And  I 
believe  that  every  inconvenience  may  be  hereafter  avoided  and 


198  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1804. 

every  objection  removed  by  appropriating  annually  a  certain 
sum  for  the  salaries  of  ministers  or  ordinary  expenses  of  foreign 
intercourse,  and  another  for  the  contingent  expenses ;  which  last 
will,  under  the  terms  of  the  law,  be  undoubtedly  and  in  every 
respect  under  the  control  of  the  President.  That  contingencies 
of  a  description  not  previously  foreseen  and  specially  provided 
for  will  happen,  and  ought  to  be  covered  by  a  general  power, 
cannot  be  doubted. 

With  great  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  2d  July,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  read  with  great  attention  Mr.  Lincoln's 
opinion :  it  is  ingenious,  and  may  be  solid,  but  I  am  very  con 
fident  that  we  will  be  defeated  if  we  attempt  to  bring  the  subject 
before  a  court.  That,  however,  may  not  be  a  reason  sufficient 
to  prevent  your  doing  what  is  thought  right.  The  act  itself  is 
scandalous  and  dangerous  to  the  peace  of  the  nation ;  if  not 
legally  criminal,  it  certainly  ought  to  be  made  so. 

Receiving  no  answer  from  Mr.  Muhlenberg  on  the  subject  of 
binding  masters  of  armed  vessels  to  their  good  behavior,  &c., 
I  gave  him  a  private  hint,  to  which,  in  a  private  letter,  he 
answers,  "I  shall  pay  strict  attention  to  the  way  you  have 
pointed  out  to  bring  the  business  before  the  district  judge,  in 
case  any  vessel  should  by  her  arming  give  cause  of  suspicion 
that  she  might  be  employed  in  acts  of  hostility  contrary  to  the 
laws  of  the  United  States.  The  district  attorney  has  furnished 
me  with  the  forms  necessary  to  conduct  the  business."  It  appears, 
therefore,  that  no  case  has,  since  my  letter,  occurred  on  which  to 
try  the  question ;  and  the  question  now  arises  whether,  without 
waiting  for  a  decision  there,  similar  instructions  shall  be  made 
circular  to  the  several  collectors. 

The  Spanish  minister  has  made  an  application  on  the  subject 
of  the  vessel  at  Norfolk.  As  we  will  have  hundred  vessels 
which  will  put  in  distress  in  Spanish  ports  for  one  Spanish  here, 


1804.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  199 

it  is  certainly  our  interest  to  give  to  the  treaty  the  most  liberal 
construction,  which,  in  your  opinion,  is  the  only  correct  one. 

I  have  drawn  the  sketch  of  an  answer,  which  is  enclosed  and 
submitted.  I  do  not  know  how  far  it  may  be  proper  for  me  to 
use  your  name  or  to  speak  of  Congress  to  a  foreign  minister. 

General  Wilkinson  informed  me  that  Captain  Schuyler,  having 
resided  three  years  at  Fort  Stoddart,  had,  on  account  of  unhealth- 
iness  of  the  situation,  asked  and  obtained  a  removal  to  another 
place.  I  therefore  detained  the  commission,  which  was  yet  in 
the  Comptroller's  office.  The  question  recurs,  whom  to  appoint? 
General  Wilkinson  recommends  a  Lieutenant  Edward  Pendleton 
Gaines,  now  in  the  city,  and  who  is  ordered  to  repair  to  that  fort, 
not,  however,  as  the  commanding  officer. 

Two  recommendations  for  New  Bedford  and  Marietta  are 
enclosed :  in  respect  to  the  last,  it  will  be  best  to  wait  until  we 
hear  from  the  other  Republicans  there ;  the  death  of  G.  Greene 
has  not  been  officially  announced  to  the  Department.  Of  the 
propriety  of  removing  Mr.  Pope  I  am  no  judge,  but  consider 
the  Massachusetts  and  other  N.  E.  Federalists  as  such  enragfa 
and  so  incorrigible  and  hostile  to  government  and  to  the  Union, 
that,  so  far  as  my  own  opinion  may  have  been  against  removals, 
it  has,  in  respect  to  that  part  of  the  Union,  undergone  a  complete 
revolution,  and  I  consider  it  as  a  mere  question  of  policy. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

WASHINGTON,  July  12,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  this  moment  been  called  on  by  Mr.  Hoff 
man  and  Mr.  Rapp  on  the  subject  which  will  be  explained  to 
you  in  the  memorial  now  enclosed.  They  became  sensible  that 
the  matter  rested  with  Congress  only ;  but  200  of  the  people 
being  arrived  at  Baltimore  and  two  ships  hourly  expected  with 
as  many  more  each,  they  cannot  remain  here  till  the  meeting  of 
Congress,  for  want  of  funds.  They  will  therefore  proceed  to  the 
place  which  Mr.  Rapp  (who  has  been  exploring  the  country)  has 


200  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1804. 

pitched  on,  on  Sandy  Creek  of  Muskingura  River,  where  they 
wish  to  have  40,000  acres  at  the  usual  price,  but  with  longer 
indulgence  as  to  the  time  of  payment.  I  told  them  I  would 
immediately  write  to  you  to  consider  what  we  could  do  for  them  ; 
I  suppose  we  could  forbid  our  officers  to  disturb  them  if  they  sat 
down  on  our  lands;  but  that  you  could  best  judge  whether  we 
could  prevent  speculators  from  locating  and  purchasing  the  lands 
the  moment  they  should  sit  down  on  them,  with  a  view  to  screw 
money  from  them,  and  could  best  advise  them  how  to  proceed 
to  secure  themselves  till  Congress  should  meet  and  determine 
whether  they  may  have  an  indulgence  of  any  sort.  Will  you 
be  so  good  as  to  consider  of  it,  and  to  address  a  letter  to  Mr. 
Hoffman,  their  friend,  at  Baltimore,  giving  them  the  best  advice 
you  can  ?  I  told  them  I  would  write  to  them  on  receiving  your 
answer ;  but  it  is  much  better  it  should  come  from  you  to  them 
direct,  as  I  shall  be  gone  hence  in  ten  days.  The  Osages  arrived 
yesterday  have  been  received  to-day,  and  will  enter  on  business 
to-morrow.  They  are  twelve  men  and  two  boys,  and  certainly 
the  most  gigantic  men  we  have  ever  seen.  Affectionate  salu 
tations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  18th  July,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  received  yesterday  your  letter  of  the  12th 
instant,  and  have  written  an  answer  to  Mr.  Hoffman.  It  is  un 
necessary  to  write  to  our  officers  not  to  disturb  them,  as  they  have 
nothing  to  do  with  intruders :  what  advice  to  give  was  rather 
embarrassing.  You  will  receive  from  the  Treasury  Office  a  copy 
of  what  I  wrote. 

I  have  no  answer  from  Dickerson,  but  will  receive  one  in  a 
couple  of  days.  In  examining  the  Act,  I  find  that  the  attorney 
for  the  United  States  is  only  attorney  for  the  district,  and  not  for 
the  territory ;  his  business  as  well  as  the  marshal's  will  be  only 
with  the  District  Court ;  and  the  governor  will  appoint  a  sheriff, 
or  officer  of  similar  nature,  as  well  as  an  attorney-general  for 
the  Supreme  Territorial  Court.  That  consideration  diminishes 


1804.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  201 

considerably  the  importance  of  the  two  offices ;  but  I  presume 
that  it  was  not  intended,  and  it  may  easily  be  rectified  by  Con 
gress  at  their  next  session.  The  Superior  Court  of  the  Territory 
must  commence  their  session  on  the  first  Monday  in  October,  and 
the  session  of  the  District  Court  commences  on  the  third  Monday 
of  the  same  month. 

Reserving  one  place  for  Pinckney,  which,  on  his  probable  re 
fusal,  may  be  given  to  the  other  person  you  have  in  view  (Wil 
liams,  I  believe),  would  it  not  be  well  to  commission,  before  you 
go,  Kirby  and  Prevost  for  the  Territorial  and  Hall  for  the  Dis 
trict  Court,  in  order  that  they  may  make  the  necessary  arrange 
ments  and  be  on  the  spot  on  the  day  ?  for  they  must  be  there 
within  little  more  than  two  months  from  this  date,  and  the  pas 
sage  will  take  one  month.  They  should  at  same  time  be  advised 
that  their  salary  commences  only  on  1st  October. 

There  will  be  an  advantage  in  keeping  Williams  to  fill  Pinck- 
ney's  place,  which  is,  that  if  he  was  appointed  immediately  we 
must  have  another  commissioner  on  the  Natchez  land  claims. 
Will  there  be  no  incompatibility  between  that  last-mentioned 
office  and  that  of  Governor  of  the  Mississippi  Territory  as  it 
respects  Mr.  Rodney  ?  perhaps  no  more  than  arises  from  his 
present  situation  as  judge. 

And  if  Pinckney  should  accept  the  New  Orleans  judgeship, 
Williams  might  be  provided  for  in  a  temporary  way  by  being 
made  Mr.  Rodney's  successor  as  judge. 

Excuse  all  those  crude  ideas,  which  I  submit  only  from  a 
knowledge  of  the  embarrassment  caused  by  the  appointments  in 
that  place. 

With  great  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

P.S. — I  say  nothing  of  the  event  which  has  taken  place  in 
this  city.  You  will  have  perceived  that  to  the  natural  sympathy 
and  sincere  regret  excited  by  Mr.  Hamilton's  death  much  arti 
ficial  feeling,  or  semblance  of  feeling,  has  been  added  by  the 
combined  Federal  and  anti-Burrite  party  spirits. 


202  WEITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  20th  August,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  received  last  Saturday  your  letter  of  the  8th 
instant.  S.  Lewis  is  well  qualified  as  a  draughtsman  ;  I  have 
written  in  order  to  ascertain  the  nature  of  the  charges  against 
him  whilst  in  the  War  Department.  There  are,  at  all  events, 
two  other  applicants,  either  of  which  will  do,  D.  Griffith,  the 
author  of  the  map  of  Maryland,  and  one  of  King's  brothers. 
On  the  subject  of  the  Hampton  vacancy  I  wrote  what  I  knew. 
As  to  the  place  of  attorney-general,  I  fear  that  it  is  above  M. 
D.'s  rate  of  legal  knowledge  and  talents.  I  wonder  at  J.  T.  M.'s 
refusal,  and  still  wait  for  your  further  instructions  respecting 
the  office  of  district  attorney  at  New  Orleans.  That  he  should 
speak  French  appears  to  me  indispensable  :  if  the  people  of 
Louisiana  shall  not  be  indulged  as  far  as  practicable  in  what 
relates  to  language,  the  difficulty  of  governing  them  will  be 
much  increased ;  they  seem  to  be  but  one  degree  above  the 
French  West  Indians,  than  whom  a  more  ignorant  and  depraved 
race  of  civilized  men  did  not  exist.  Give  them  slaves  and  let 
them  speak  French  (for  they  cannot  write  it),  and  they  would  be 
satisfied;  the  first  is  inadmissible;  how  far  their  language  should, 
as  they  wish,  be  legally  recognized  is  questionable,  but  their 
officers  ought  at  least  to  understand  them,  and  I  fear  Williams 
would  never  learn.  Whilst  speaking  of  Louisiana,  let  me  not 
forget  to  inform  you  that  Mr.  Armstrong  told  me  that  Labigarre, 
who  gave  one  of  the  lists  of  characters  handed  by  General  Wil 
kinson,  is  and  always  was  totally  unprincipled,  and  that  no  confi 
dence  ought  to  be  placed  in  what  he  says.  I  have  made  some 
further  inquiries  concerning  Evan  Jones,  who  gave  the  other 
list ;  it  is  generally  agreed  that  his  manners  are  stiff,  but  his 
integrity  irreproachable,  and  that  he  has  decent  talents,  and  a 
better  knowledge  of  the  province  than  any  other  American. 
At  the  request  of  General  Dearborn,  I  had  two  conversations 
with  Chotteau.  He  seems  well  disposed,  but  what  he  wants  is 
power  and  money.  He  proposed  that  he  should  have  a  negative 
on  all  the  Indian  trading  licenses,  and  the  direction  and  all  the 


1804.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  203 

profits  of  the  trade  carried  on  by  the  government  with  all  the 
Indians  of  Louisiana,  replacing  only  the  capital.  I  told  him 
this  was  inadmissible;  and  his  last  demand  was  the  exclusive 
trade  with  the  Osages,  to  be  effected  by  granting  licenses  only  to 
his  agents,  but  that  he  should  not  be  concerned  in  the  trade  with 
any  other  nation.  The  annual  consumption  of  the  Osages  he 
states  at  40,000  dollars  in  goods,  estimated  at  their  value  at  the 
Illinois.  The  annual  consumption  of  all  the  Missouri  Indians, 
including  the  Sioux  of  the  Mississippi,  he  estimates  at  300,000 
dollars.  On  account  of  the  slowness  of  the  returns,  a  capital 
double  of  the  annual  consumption  is  necessary  for  carrying  the 
trade.  As  he  may  be  either  useful  or  dangerous,  I  gave  no  flat 
denial  to  his  last  request,  but  told  him  to  modify  it  in  the  least 
objectionable  shape  and  to  write  to  General  Dearborn  from  St. 
Louis,  which  he  said  he  would  do.  As  to  the  government  of 
Upper  Louisiana,  he  is  decidedly  in  favor  of  a  military  one,  and 
appears  much  afraid  of  civil  law  and  lawyers:  in  some  respects 
he  may  be  right ;  but,  as  regular  laws  and  courts  protect  the 
poor  and  the  ignorant,  we  may  mistrust  the  predilection  of 
him  who  is  comparatively  rich  and  intelligent  in  favor  of  other 
systems. 

General  Dearborn  informed  me  that  he  had  made  such  arrange 
ments  respecting  the  military  stores  as  would  supersede  the  neces 
sity  of  an  immediate  appointment  to  fill  the  vacancy  caused  by 
General  Irvine's  death.  Considering  the  situation  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  this  will  be  pretty  delicate,  and  I  am  glad  that  you  may 
wait  till  after  General  Dearborn's  return. 

Judge  Peters  has  decided  that  the  Act  giving  the  power  to  bind 
to  good  behavior  and  security  of  the  peace  was  not  intended  to 
include  ex-territorial  cases,  and  was  inapplicable  to  the  case  of  a 
vessel  arming  for  Hispaniola ;  but  that  if  an  affidavit  was  made 
that  the  arming  was  with  intentions  to  commit  hostilities,  either 
defensive  or  offensive,  against  either  of  the  belligerent  powers 
or  of  a  vessel  commissioned  by  either,  he  should  issue  writs 
against  the  owners  and  captain,  under,  I  believe,  the  5th  Section 
of  the  Act  of  5th  June,  1794. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  the  collector  of  Charleston  on  the  same 
subject,  which  I  will  thank  you  to  return  after  perusal. 


204  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1804. 

I  also  enclose  a  letter  respecting  I.  Neufville's  application. 
The  commission  should  issue  before  15th  September. 

The  British  ships  continue  the  blockade  of  this  port. 
Amongst  other  vessels  sent  to  Halifax  for  adjudication  was 
the  Eugenia,  Captain  Mansfield,  which  has  been  retaken  by  a 
party  of  armed  men  in  a  fishing-smack  from  New  London,  and 
brought  here.  Mr.  Barclay,  the  British  consul,  wrote  imme 
diately  on  the  arrival  here  of  the  prize-master,  who  had  been 
landed  at  New  London,  to  Mr.  Merry,  and  applied  to  the  cus 
tom-house  officers  to  detain  the  cargo  till  further  orders  from 
Washington. 

Having  no  person  here  to  transcribe,  I  enclose  his  original 
letter  with  the  enclosed  affidavit.  The  officers,  after  consulting 
me,  answered  that  the  papers,  <fec.,  of  the  ship  Eugenia,  which 
arrived  here  in  possession  of  Captain  Mansfield,  were  perfectly 
regular,  that  she  had  accordingly  been  entered,  and  that  the 
custom-house  officers  had  no  power  by  law,  after  the  duties 
were  secured,  to  refuse  to  the  consignees  permits  for  the  landing 
of  the  cargo,  or  in  any  way  to  detain  it.  This  is  exactly  true ; 
the  collector  has  no  judiciary  powers;  and  why,  if  Captain 
Mansfield's  possession  was  considered  as  illegal,  Mr.  Barclay 
did  not  apply  to  the  district  judge,  who  could  have  immediately 
ordered  the  vessel  and  cargo  to  be  seized  and  kept  in  custody  of 
the  marshal  until  after  hearing  and  decision,  I  cannot  tell,  un 
less,  knowing  that  there  was  not  the  least  ground  for  the  cap 
ture,  which  is  the  fact,  he  has  chosen  to  make  this  transaction 
the  ground  of  a  governmental  complaint,  and  to  use  it  as  an 
offset  against  the  outrages  of  the  British  frigates.  I  have  writ 
ten  to  New  London  to  obtain  affidavits,  which  I  will  send  to 
Mr.  Madison,  and  have  examined  Captain  Mansfield.  The 
facts  are  merely  these  : 

The  prize-master,  from  ignorance  and  stupidity,  was  per 
suaded,  first,  to  take  a  pilot  off  the  east  end  of  Long  Island, 
and  next,  to  run  not  only  within  the  Sound,  but  within  the  har 
bor  of  New  London,  where  he  came  to  an  anchor  half  a  mile 
above  the  light-house.  In  his  affidavit  he  says  he  was  under 
the  lee  of  Fisher's  Island,  and  four  miles  from  the  light-house ; 
but  he  has  betrayed  the  truth  in  his  statement  of  the  bearing, 


1804.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  205 

in  which  he  acknowledges  himself  east  north-east  of  the  light 
house.  In  that  situation  he  was  boarded  by  the  revenue  cutter 
and  an  inspector  of  customs  put  on  board ;  he  also  suffered  the 
former  American  master  and  mate  to  go  on  shore ;  but,  appre 
hending  detention,  he  put  the  inspector  on  board  of  a  boat,  cut 
his  cable,  and  sailed  out  of  the  harbor;  but  the  wind  being  due 
east,  he  could  not  go  out  of  the  Sound  through  the  race,  and 
sailed  before  the  wind  towards  New  York.  He  was  retaken 
two  or  three  hours  after,  without  resistance,  by  the  fishing-smack, 
on  board  of  which  was  another  officer  of  the  customs.  Mans 
field  reassumed  the  command  of  the  vessel,  and,  the  wind  con 
tinuing  east,  proceeded  with  the  officer  of  customs  to  New 
York  instead  of  returning  to  New  London,  having  previously, 
as  he  says,  advised  the  prize-master  and  English  crew  to  go  on 
shore  in  the  sloop,  which  they  did.  There  were  but  two  mus 
kets  on  board  the  recapturing  sloop.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
the  prize-master  was  guilty  of  a  gross  infraction  of  our  revenue 
laws  in  discharging  the  first  custom-house  officer,  and  in  leaving 
the  harbor. 

Every  vessel,  even  when  coming  in  distress  whilst  bound  to 
another  port,  must  be  reported  to  the  custom-house.  See  29th, 
80th,  and  60th  Sections  of  collection  law,  4th  volume,  pages 
326,  327,  and  377.  And  by  the  said  29th  Section  it  is  law 
ful  for  the  revenue  officers  to  arrest  and  bring  back  to  such  port 
of  the  United  States  as  is  most  convenient  any  vessel  departing 
or  attempting  to  depart  before  report.  Goddard,  the  officer  of 
the  customs  whom  I  missed  seeing,  and  for  whose  affidavit  I 
have  sent,  was  verbally  authorized  by  the  surveyor  to  arrest 
and  bring  back  the  vessel;  so  that  the  recapture  itself  was 
strictly  legal.  But  what  was  irregular  was  to  order  the  prize- 
master  and  crew  from  the  vessel,  depriving  him  of  the  posses 
sion  he  had.  If  we  can  make  out  that  he  abandoned  the  vessel, 
everything  will  have  been  regular ;  but  if  we  cannot,  we  must 
rest  our  defence  of  that  part  of  the  transaction  on  the  omission 
of  the  British  consul  to  have  the  vessel  and  cargo  judicially 
arrested  in  New  York.  I  have  written  at  large  in  order  that 
Mr.  Madison  may  have  early  knowledge  of  the  facts;  for  I 
understand  that  the  captain  of  the  Leander  is  insolent,  and  that 


206  WKITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1804. 

every  subsequent  outrage  is  intended  to  be  justified  by  this  act. 
Another  captured  ship  has  also  been  recaptured,  but  by  the 
crew,  to  which  it  seems  there  is  no  objection. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

Please  to  have  the  goodness  to  return  Mr.  Barclay's  letter  and 
enclosure.     A  sketch  of  the  entrance  of  the  Sound  is  enclosed. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

.MONTICELLO,  September  1,  1804. 

DEAE  SIR, — I  am  just  returned  from  a  visit  to  Mr.  Madison, 
whom  I  went  to  consult  on  certain  matters.  I  communicated 
to  him  the  papers  from  Simpson  and  Gelston  enclosed  to  me  in 
yours  of  August  20,  and  which  I  now  re-enclose  to  you.  We 
are  both  satisfied  with  Simpson's  refusal  to  enter  the  guns  of  a 
vessel  as  a  part  of  her  description  in  her  clearance,  and  if  you 
are  of  our  opinion  we  think  it  would  be  well  to  instruct  all  the 
collectors  to  discontinue  it.  I  know  of  no  law  requiring  it,  and 
it  seems  to  give  the  countenance  of  the  government  to  the  prac 
tice,  instead  of  showing  its  disapprobation,  which  is  our  true 
sentiment.  With  respect  to  the  Eugenia,  if  the  retaking  her 
be  considered  as  the  act  of  the  revenue  officer,  it  was  lawful  as 
an  arrest,  and  the  irregularity  of  setting  the  officers  ashore  is 
too  small  to  need  an  apology.  If  it  be  considered  as  a  rescue 
by  the  master,  we  have  nothing  to  do  with  it.  The  capturing 
neutral  vessels  on  suspicion  of  enemy  property  on  board  is  an 
act  of  force,  and  it  behoves  the  captors  to  employ  a  sufficient 
force,  as  the  neutral  is  not  bound  to  lend  a  hand,  but,  on  the 
contrary,  is  restrained  by  his  neutrality  from  all  supplementary 
aid  to  either  party.  On  the  opinion  you  give  as  to  Dickerson 
I  abandon  that  idea,  but  still,  wishing  the  aid  of  a  good  lawyer, 
and  rather  that  he  should  be  from  Pennsylvania,  I  ask  the  favor 
of  you  to  inquire  fully  into  the  legal  knowledge,  judgment,  and 
moral  and  social  character  of  Levy.  We  must  have  none  but 
a  good-humored  man.  I  have  further  recommendations  of  Isaac 


1804.  LETTEES,    ETC.  9Q7 

Neufville,  so  that  I  believe  I  shall  fill  up  the  commission  with 
his  name,  though  it  is  a  bad  example,  and  leads  to  family 
property  in  an  office. 

After  waiting  to  the  twelfth  hour  to  get  all  the  information 
I  could  respecting  the  government  of  Orleans,  I  have,  on  con 
sultation  with  Mr.  Madison,  sent  on  the  commissions  by  the 
mail  which  left  Charlottesville  yesterday  morning  for  the  west 
ward.  It  is  very  much  what  had  been  approved  by  the  heads  of 
Departments  separately  and  provisionally,  with  a  few  alterations 
shown  to  be  proper  by  subsequent  information.  It  is  as  follows: 

Governor,  Clai borne. 

Secretary,  James  Brown. 

Judges  of  Superior  Court,  Kirby,  Prevost,  and  Pinckney  or 
Williams. 

Judge  of  District,  Hall. 

Attorney,  Dickerson. 

Marshal,  Urquhart,  or  Clonat,  or  Guillot,  or  any  native 
Frenchman  Claiborne  prefers. 

Legislative  Council,  Morgan,  Watkins,  Clarke,  Jones,  Roman, 
and  Wikoif  certain.  Don  or  George  Pollock,  as  Claiborne 
chooses.  Bore,  Poydras,  and  Bellechasse  certain,  and  any  three 
which  Claiborne  may  choose  of  these  five,  to  wit :  Derbigne, 
Detrahan,  Dubruys,  Cantarelle,  Sauve. 

It  will  be  necessary  for  us  to  consider  of  a  gradation  of  peace 
able  measures  which  may  coerce  the  belligerent  powers  into  an 
obedience  to  the  laws  within  our  waters,  so  as  to  avoid  using  the 
gunboats  if  possible :  a  non-intercourse  law  may  be  necessary; 
but  would  not  the  power  to  forbid  the  admitting  to  entry  any 
vessel  of  a  belligerent  so  long  as  there  should  be  an  armed  vessel 
of  the  nation  in  our  waters  in  a  state  of  disobedience  to  the  laws 
or  lawful  orders  of  the  Executive  be  effectual  ?  making  it  law 
ful  for  us  at  the  same  time  to  give  admittance  to  the  armed 
vessels  of  a  belligerent  on  such  terms  only  as  we  should  pre 
scribe.  These  things  should  be  considered  and  agreed  on  among 
ourselves,  and  suggested  to  our  friends.  I  salute  you  with 
affection  and  respect. 

P.S. — I  shall  be  in  Washington  by  the  last  day  of  the  month. 


208  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1804. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  4th  September,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  copies  of  a  letter 
written  to  the  collector  of  New  London,  and  of  his  answer,  on 
the  subject  of  the  recapture  of  the  ship  Eugenia,  together  with 
the  affidavits  of  the  revenue  officers  who  were  successively  on 
board  of  the  ship. 

Some  irregularity  seems  to  have  taken  place  in  dispossessing 
the  British  prize-master  of  the  vessel ;  but,  as  he  had  sailed  from 
the  harbor  and  district  of  New  London  without  making  report 
according  to  law,  the  revenue  officers  were  authorized  by  the 
29th  Section  of  the  collection  law  "  to  cause  to  be  arrested  and 
brought  back  the  said  vessel  to  such  port  of  the  United  States 
to  which  it  might  be  most  conveniently  done;"  and  that  is  the 
course  which  should  have  been  pursued  by  the  collector  of  New 
London. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  highest  respect,  sir,  your  most 
obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN    TO    JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  18th  September,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  arrived  here  on  Sunday  last  with  my  family, 
and  found  your  letters  of  1st  and  8th  instant,  on  which,  on 
account  of  some  arrears  of  current  business,  I  have  not  yet  acted. 

The  only  difficult  commission  is  how  to  obtain  by  correspond 
ence  information  respecting  not  only  the  abilities  but  moral  and 
social  disposition  of  Levy.  As  a  lawyer  he  is  superior  to  Dicker- 
son,  and  would,  I  presume,  do  tolerably;  still,  he  is  but  a  second- 
rate,  and  as  a  statesman  and  in  some  degree  member  of  your 
Cabinet  I  do  not  think  that  he  would  do.  Nor,  if  his  practice 
be,  as  it  is  presumable,  worth  six  or  seven  thousand  dollars,  is 
it  probable  that  he  would  give  it  up  for  the  place  of  Attorney- 
General,  and  exchange  Philadelphia  for  Washington. 


1804.  LETTERS,     ETC.  209 

For  that  reason  it  will  be  difficult  to  obtain  officers  from  the 
gentlemen  of  the  bar  of  those  cities  where  the  profession  is  so 
lucrative.  In  Pennsylvania,  out  of  the  city,  the  only  Republican 
lawyers  of  reputation  known  to  me  are  Hamilton,  of  Carlisle, 
and,  but  yet  much  lower,  Baldwin,  of  Pittsburgh.  In  New 
York  there  is  no  Republican  equal  to  the  place,  unless  Brock- 
hoist  Livingston,  who  is  a  State  judge,  would  accept  it.  With 
his  political  and  general  character  you  are  acquainted.  That 
appointment,  however,  does  not  press ;  but  unless  there  shall  be 
a  district  attorney  at  New  Orleans,  not  a  single  prosecution  can 
take  place  in  the  name  of  the  United  States,  and  Dickerson  has 
positively  said  that  he  could  not  go  this  fall. 

Would  it  not  be  better  to  send  to  Governor  Claiborne  a  blank 
commission  by  next  mail,  informing  him  that  in  filling  it  he 
must  tell  the  gentleman  whose  name  he  will  put  in  it  that  it  is 
only  a  temporary  appointment? 

I  have  uniformly  been  of  opinion  that,  as  it  related  to  the 
principles  of  our  government  and  to  the  reputation  and  popu 
larity  of  the  Administration,  it  was  of  importance  that  the 
officers  of  the  federal  government  should  abstain  from  any 
interference  with  public  elections;  and  I  had,  as  you  may 
recollect,  prepared  a  paragraph  to  that  effect  in  my  first  cir 
cular  to  the  collectors,  which  you,  as  well  as  Mr.  Madison, 
thought  premature,  and  the  subject  has  not  been  attended  to 
since  that  time. 

Although  several  have  ostensibly  interfered,  Mr.  Osgood 
and  Mr.  Cox  are  the  only  ones  who,  within  my  recollection, 
have  signed  and  published  their  names;  and  the  last  is  the  only 
one  who  has  done  it  in  such  manner  as  to  merit  or  meet  with 
animadversion.  But,  under  present  circumstances,  it  will  be 
very  delicate  to  admonish  or  to  proclaim.1 

With  great  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

The  city  is  not  more  unhealthy  than  usual,  and  much  less  so 
than  the  whole  extent  of  country,  on  both  sides  of  the  ridge,  from 
the  Susquehanna  to  the  Potomack. 

1  See  the  letter  to  which  this  is  in  answer,  in  Jefferson's  Writings,  iv.  559. 
VOL.  i.— 15 


210  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  12th  October,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  enclosed,  which  you  will  have  the  goodness 
to  return,  show  the  enormous  balance  still  due  by  Kentucky, 
especially  for  the  indirect  taxes,  and  the  almost  impossibility  of 
recovering  anything,  even  from  delinquent  and  criminal  col 
lectors.  I  would  not  have  been  astonished  if,  in  the  attempt  to 
recover  those  old  accumulated  arrears  of  an  unpopular  and  ex 
pired  tax,  popular  feeling  had  operated  in  favor  of  the  distillers 
who  had  not  yet  paid ;  but  that  such  an  effect  should  have  been 
produced  in  the  case  of  unprincipled  officers  who  had  collected 
the  money  is  incomprehensible,  and  Judge  Innis  must  be  either 
incapable  or  something  worse;  for,  in  the  manner  in  which  the 
statutes  are  framed,  the  fate  of  suits  against  collectors  depends 
almost  exclusively  on  the  court.  Whatever  can  be  done  shall 
be  done,  and  we  will  try  the  appeal  in  Arthur's  case  at  the  next 
session  of  the  Supreme  Court. 

But  the  point  on  which  at  present  I  wish  to  obtain  your 
opinion  is  the  continuance  of  Arthur  in  office  by  the  supervisor. 
His  reasons  you  will  see  by  his  letter.  To  me  they  appear 
inconclusive ;  and  after  such  glaring  proofs  of  his  villany,  it 
seems  to  me  that,  let  the  effect  of  the  removal  on  the  suit  be 
what  it  will,  the  supervisor  should  be  directed  in  your  name  to 
have  him  removed  immediately. 

This  direction  is,  however,  an  unusual  step,  and  is  submitted 
to  your  better  judgment. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TREASURY,  15th  October,  1804. 
DEAR  SIR, — The  receipt  for  Louisiana  stock  which  we  have 
in  the  Treasury,  and  is  enclosed,  is  only  that  of  Mr.  Livingston, 
which,  in  conformity  with  ithe   contract  of  Baring  with   the 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  211 

French  government  and  Messrs.  Pichon's  and  Baring's  letters 
filed  in  the  office,  operated  as  a  full  discharge  to  the  United 
States  of  their  engagement  to  deliver  stock.  Mr.  Livingston 
had,  besides  this,  become  voluntary  depositor  of  the  stock  and 
of  the  bills  given  by  Baring  in  payment. 

It  appears  by  his  enclosed  letter  that  he  had  delivered  both 
to  the  parties,  and  has  sent  a  receipt  to  the  Secretary  of  State 
on  that  subject.  But  this  was  a  personal  responsibility  of  his, 
with  which  government  had  nothing  to  do.  It  further  appears 
by  Baring's  letter  (which  is  a  private  one  to  me)  that  the  pur 
chasers  of  the  stock — Hope  and  Baring — had  anticipated  their 
payments,  which,  by  the  contract,  were  to  be  made  within  two 
years,  and  had  paid  the  French  government  in  full.  With 
this  we  have  nothing  to  do.  Mr.  Livingston's  letter  is  that 
which  I  had  mentioned  to  you,  and  I  enclose  the  copy  of  my 
answer,  which  went  by  Mr.  Armstrong  and  was  communicated 
to  him,  and  which  I  had  forgotten  to  send  you  before. 

With  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 
BEMARKS  ON   PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE. 

October,  1804. 

Irregularities  in  American  seas  and  in  our  harbors. — As  it  is 
wished  that  Congress  would  make  provision  on  two  points  im 
mediately  connected  with  the  captures  near  St.  Domingo  and 
with  the  aggressions  at  New  York,  by  restraining  the  arming  of 
our  vessels  and  by  enabling  the  Executive  to  enforce  the  juris 
diction  of  the  United  States  in  our  ports  against  foreign  vessels ; 
and  as  the  expression  of  that  wish  would  evince  the  disposition 
of  the  Executive  equally  to  restrain  the  irregularities  of  our 
own  people  and  to  repel  the  insulting  aggressions  of  the  bel 
ligerent  powers  on  our  coast ;  would  there  be  any  objection  to 
introduce  at  the  end  of  this  paragraph  a  recommendation  to 
that  effect? 

Spanish  objections  to  the  ratification  of  the  convention. — 1st. 


212  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

The  public  mind  is  altogether  unprepared  for  a  declaration  that 
the  terms  and  object  of  the  Mobile  Act  had  been  misunderstood 
by  Spain ;  for  every  writer,  without  a  single  exception,  who  has 
written  on  the  subject,  seems  to  have  understood  the  Act  as 
Spain  did ;  it  has  been  justified  by  our  friends  on  that  ground ; 
and  the  declaration  in  the  message,  without  some  short  expla 
nation,  may  be  distorted  into  an  avowal  of  some  humiliating 
concession  to  Spain  by  the  Executive.  Might  not,  to  obviate 
this,  some  words  be  introduced,  where  speaking  of  the  miscon 
ceptions  of  Spain,  which  would  state  that  Spain  had  erroneously 
supposed  that  it  was  intended  to  organize  a  custom-house  within 
territories  still  in  her  possession  and  claimed  by  her,  before 
possession  had  been  obtained  by  ourselves? 

2d.  This  may  lead  to  say  something  of  the  yet  unascertained 
boundaries  of  Louisiana,  a  subject  of  sufficient  importance  to 
excite  animadversion  if  it  was  altogether  omitted  in  the  message, 
especially  as  the  ensuing  paragraph  announces,  in  an  unqualified 
manner,  the  acquiescence  of  Spain  in  the  validity  of  our  title  to 
Louisiana.  Perhaps  the  ensuing  paragraph  might  be  transposed 
so  as  to  precede  that  entitled  "  Spanish  differences,"  qualifying 
it  by  adding  that  Spain,  however,  does  not  yet  acknowledge 
our  title  to  the  full  extent  of  our  rightful  claim ;  and  then  the 
subject  of  the  misconception  of  the  Mobile  Act  would  follow  of 
course,  and  the  intention  of  the  Executive  not  to  abandon  the 
claim  in  any  degree,  but  to  abstain  from  exercising  jurisdiction 
or  taking  forcible  possession  till  all  other  means  were  exhausted, 
be  fully  understood. 

3d.  The  total  omission  of  the  other  impediment  to  the  rati 
fication  of  the  convention,  viz.,  what  relates  to  the  6th  Article, 
appears  perfectly  proper  as  it  relates  to  Spain  itself,  inasmuch 
as  it  avoids  commitment  on  our  part  and  leaves  them  free, 
without  wounding  their  pride,  to  recede  and  ratify,  whilst  they 
may  understand  the  Tunis  paragraph  as  perfectly  applicable  to 
themselves.  But  that  omission,  as  it  relates  to  Congress,  may 
be  animadverted,  as  a  concealment  from  that  body  of  an  im 
portant  part  of  the  whole  ground.  Perhaps,  without  expressly 
mentioning  the  article,  some  general  expressions  might  be  intro 
duced,  at  the  same  time  alluding  to  other  objections  of  Spain, 


1804.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  213 

and  stating  the  expectation  that  the  explanation  on  the  Mobile 
Act  would  also  remove  them. 

Delivery  of  stock. — The  words  "  discharge  of  our  obligations" 
seem  too  strong  and  general,  as  they  might  be  construed  to 
imply  a  discharge  of  our  obligation  to  pay.  The  obligation 
from  which  we  are  discharged  is  that  of  delivering  the  stock 
within  three  months  after  the  ratification  of  the  convention  as 
had  been  provided  by  that  instrument,  a  provision  which  em 
barrassed  us  at  the  time  on  account  of  the  proposed  "  bien 
entendu"  which  Pichon  wanted  to  insert  in  the  exchange  of 
ratifications,  and  on  account  of  the  delays  in  taking  possession 
of  New  Orleans,  which  delayed  the  delivery  of  the  stock  till 
the  last  week  of  the  three  months.  The  legal  delivery  of  the 
stock  consisted  in  delivering  it  to  Lieutenant  Leonard,  whose 
receipt,  together  with  a  letter  from  Mr.  Pichon  acknowledging 
that  act  to  be  a  full  execution  of  the  convention,  are  filed  in  the 
Register's  office  as  the  evidence  of  the  delivery,  and  that  letter 
of  Pichon  is  the  only  discharge  which  we  have  received  at  the 
Treasury  from  the  government  of  France.  Mr.  Livingston  says, 
however,  that  he  has  sent  to  the  Department  of  State  receipts 
for  the  delivery  of  the  stock  in  France  :  those  I  have  not  seen, 
and  as  we  considered  the  transaction,  so  far  as  there  was  any 
obligation  on  our  part,  closed  by  the  delivery  here,  I  have  never 
applied  for  them;  indeed,  I  believe  that  they  are  merely  personal, 
and,  so  far  as  they  come  from  the  French  government,  must  be 
a  receipt  not  for  the  stock,  but  for  the  bills  of  Hope  and  Baring 
which  had  been  deposited  with  him,  and  which  he  delivered  to 
the  French  government.  The  whole  transaction  is  so  complex 
that  I  think  the  best  way  will  be  generally  to  say  that  the  stock 
was  timely  delivered  in  conformity  to  the  provisions  of  the  con 
vention,  without  giving  copies  of  the  documents,  which  are 
numerous,  lengthy,  and  uninteresting.  Add  to  this  that  it  is 
not  convenient,  unless  necessary,  to  bring  into  view  the  contract 
of  Hope  and  Baring  with  the  French  government  for  the 
Louisiana  stock,  as  they  gave  but  sixteen  shillings  in  the  pound 
for  it,  which  may  excite  animadversion  on  the  state  of  our  credit 
and  on  the  conduct  of  the  negotiators  of  the  treaty. 


214  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1804. 

Earbary  Powers. — Quere,  whether  the  late  accounts  from  the 
Mediterranean  fully  justify  the  expectations  arising  from  the 
energy  of  all  the  officers  ? 

Upper  Louisiana. — I  do  not  understand  what  is  meant  by  the 
appointment  of  commandants  in  the  forms  of  the  Constitution. 
The  expressions  in  the  12th  Section  of  the  Act  of  26th  March, 
1804,  are,  "  except  the  commanding  officer,  who  shall  be  appointed 
by  the  President"  The  same  words  precisely  are  used  in  the  2d 
and  3d  Sections  of  the  Act  "to  provide  for  the  creating  and  re 
pairing  of  vessels  and  magazines,  and  for  other  purposes,"  passed 
April  2,  1794,  in  relation  to  the  appointment  of  superintendent 
and  master-armorer  of  the  armories  and  of  superintendent  of 
military  stores;  and  in  those  cases  the  power  to  appoint  has 
uniformly  been  considered  and  exercised  as  vested  in  the  Presi 
dent  alone.  From  which  I  infer  that  the  authority  to  appoint 
commandants  in  Upper  Louisiana  is  also  vested  in  the  President 
alone. 

But  if  it  was  not,  it  is  perhaps  as  well  not  to  allude  to  the 
principle,  because  there  have  been  some  instances  of  newly-created 
offices  which  the  President  has,  from  the  necessity  of  the  case, 
filled  during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  though  no  special  authority 
had  been  given  to  that  effect.  I  remember  the  first  collector  of 
Bristol  (R.  I.)  and  Michilimackinac  being  appointed  in  that  way 
in  1801. 

Gunboats. — The  object  of  those  vessels,  as  a  substitute  for 
fortifications  against  naval  enterprises,  and  for  supporting  the 
authority  of  the  laws  within  harbors,  is  correctly  defined.  Nor, 
provided  that  the  expenditures  shall  be  kept  within  due  bounds, 
is  there  any  plausible  objection,  except  that,  after  providing  such 
as  are  wanted  for  the  last-mentioned  purpose,  those  which  are 
wanted  for  the  first  may,  in  case  of  war,  be  so  speedily  built, 
that  it  is  not  necessary  to  provide  for  them  beforehand ;  as  the 
expense  of  keeping  them  in  repair  and  of  the  men  to  watch  them 
will  cost  more  in  two  years  than  the  mere  building  expenses. 
This,  however,  may  be  provided  for  hereafter,  and  I  would  only 
wish  to  have  a  true  estimate  of  the  expense  of  building  and 
keeping  either  in  actual  service  or  ordinary,  and  to  know  the 
number  intended  to  be  built  and  to  be  kept  in  service.  But  so 


1804.  LETTERS,    ETC.  215 

far  as  relates  to  the  message,  I  much  fear  that  the  efforts  made  in 
Federal  papers  to  impress  the  idea  that  this  establishment  is 
intended  as  a  substitute  to  the  navy  have  so  far  succeeded  that 
some  distortion  of  the  President's  recommendation  will  take 
place. 

Repairs  to  our  frigates. — This  must  certainly  be  done,  but  it 
seems  questionable  whether  it  should  make  part  of  the  message. 
It  is  true  that  it  ought  to  be  considered  as  an  evidence  of  the 
attention  paid  by  the  President  to  the  navy ;  but  so  much  has 
been  said  on  the  subject  of  the  ships  rattening  in  the  Eastern 
Branch,  as  if  the  waters  of  that  creek  had  a  peculiarly  corrosive 
quality,  that  not  only  the  Federalists  but  also  the  inhabitants  of 
other  seaports  will  eagerly  seize  the  opportunity  to  disseminate 
the  opinion  that  their  predictions  are  fulfilled.  If  the  message 
shall  be  silent  on  that  head,  nothing  more  will  be  necessary  than 
for  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  to  include  the  item  for  that  object 
in  the  annual  estimate,  and  it  will  probably  be  voted  without 
any  observations.  Should  it,  however,  provoke  an  inquiry,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  may  then  make  a  special  report  which 
may  be  framed  so  as  to  meet  or  anticipate  objections  and  cavils. 

Acceptance  of  volunteers. — Is  this  really  wanted?  and  may  it 
not  always  be  timely  provided  for  by  Congress  whenever  an 
emergency  shall  require  it?  The  application  for  a  general 
provision  is  liable  to  objections  of  an  intrinsic  nature,  and  will 
be  artfully  confounded  with  the  system  of  volunteer  corps  under 
Mr.  Adams's  Administration  in  1798. 

Additional  remarks. — It  does  not  seem  that  the  French 
aggressions  in  New  York,  if  they  exist,  should  be  embraced  in 
the  same  sentence  with  British.  Even  if  the  reports  be  true, 
their  conduct  has  been  generally  unexceptionable  there,  and  a 
single  departure  cannot  be  compared  with  the  unremitted  insults 
and  blockade  by  the  British. 

With  the  nations  of  Europe  in  general  our  friendship  is  un 
disturbed. — Does  not  this  embrace  Spain,  and  is  it  not  therefore 
too  general? 

From  the  other  powers  on  the  same  coast  (Barbary]  we  have 
every  mark  of  the  continuance  of  their  friendship,  &c. — Do  not 
the  last  accounts  from  Morocco  contradict  this  ? 


216  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

Territory  of  Orleans. — Is  it  not  to  be  apprehended  that  the 
persons  appointed  members  of  the  council,  or  a  majority,  will 
refuse  to  serve  ? 

Indians  of  Louisiana. — Said  to  be  friendly  so  far  as  we  have 
yet  learned.  Have  not  some  murders  been  committed  at  St. 
Louis  ? 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  29th  October,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  return  your  message  with  such  remarks  as 
occurred.  It  was  not  received  till  Saturday,  which  must  be  my 
apology  for  not  returning  it  sooner. 

The  Register  being  absent,  I  have  been  obliged  to  go  myself 
through  all  the  minutiae  of  calculation,  instead  of  only  marking 
the  outlines  and  reviewing  the  work.  The  complete  materials 
for  your  financial  paragraph  will  not,  for  that  reason,  be  com 
pleted  till  to-morrow.  In  the  mean  while  the  following  sketch 
is  correct,  except  for  the  amount  of  principal  public  debt  re 
deemed,  which  is  not  yet  ascertained : 

Balance  in  Treasury,  30th  September,  1803,          $5,860,981.54 
Receipts  during  the  year,  viz. : 

imposts,  $10,729,708.54  ^ 

Loans,  repayments,  arrears,  V    11,574,211.04 

taxes,  excise,  &c.,  844,502.50  J 

$17,435,192.58 
Expended  during  the  year, 


Current  expense,  civil,  mili 
tary,  foreign,  and  domestic,     $3,727,081.31 
Instalments  to  Great  Britain,          888,000.00      *12  552  957  47 
Payment    for    interest    and 

principal  on  public  debt,         7,937,886.16  J 
Balance  in  Treasury,  30th  September,  1804,  4,882,225.11 

$17,435,192.58 
Of  which  payments,  about  $3,600,000  for  principal. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


1804.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  217 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 
LIST  OF  NAMES. 

Names  to  be  inquired  into  for  minister  to  Spain. 
New  Hampshire. — Sherborne,  district  attorney  or  judge. 
Massach  usetts. — Bowd  oin . 

Eustis. 

Rhode  Island. — Russell. 
Connecticut. — Kirby. 
Pennsylvania. — Jones,  captain. 

Delaware. — Hall,  governor ;  Reed,  district  attorney ;  Rodney. 
New  Jersey. — Bloomfield. 
Maryland. — S.  Smith.  ^^^X? 

Joseph  Nicholson. 

Pinkney. 
North  Carolina. — David  Stone. 

Steel. 

Georgia. — A.  Baldwin. 
Tennessee. — Smith,  formerly  Senator. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  a  list  of  names,  being  all  those  I  can 
think  of,  leaving  New  York,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina  out 
of  the  question,  which  may  be  thought  of  for  the  Spanish 
embassy.  I  have  put  several  rather  to  give  names  to  every 
State  than  for  any  good  reason. 

Taking  everything  into  consideration,  Bowdoin  and  Pinkney 
appear  to  me  the  most  fitted  on  the  list. 

First-rate  talents,  I  am  afraid,  cannot  be  commanded,  and 
good  sense  and  respectability  may  be  sufficient  on  every  ordinary 
occasion ;  the  assistance  of  Mr.  Monroe  is  already  engaged  for 
the  Louisiana  business ;  and  on  future  important  occasions  that 
of  our  minister  at  Paris  may  always  be  obtained. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

The  date  of  Mr.  Harwood's  resignation  as  Commissioner  of 
Loans  is  wanted  at  the  Treasury,  and  may,  I  presume,  be  found 
in  his  letter  to  you. 


218  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1804. 

GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  13th  December,  1804. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  information  contained  in  this  letter  is  cer 
tainly  important.  It  explains  what  I  heard  that  General  Hovey 
or  Ovey,  of  Genesee,  was  connected  with  Phelps,  and  went  last 
summer  to  the  westward  with  an  intention  of  ascending  the 
Mississippi  as  high  as  St.  Anthony's  Fall.  He,  however,  went 
no  farther  than  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  where  he  formed  a  plan  to 
cut  a  canal  around  the  same. 

Powers  should  be  answered,  and,  I  presume,  in  the  following 
manner : 

1st.  That  we  have  no  knowledge  of  Carver's  grant. 

2d.  That  such  grant,  if  it  existed,  was  never  recognized  by 
the  Crown. 

3d.  That  Congress  never  have  recognized  mere  Indian  titles, 
and  that  he  may  safely  rely  upon  it  that  such  one  as  that  he 
mentioned  never  will  be  admitted. 

4th.  That  it  is  presumable  that  he  may  have  redress  against 
the  seller,  but  that  it  is  a  question  of  private  right,  on  which 
officers  of  the  government  cannot  as  such  give  any  opinion. 

Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  give  me  your  opinion  on  the 
subject  ? 

As  a  national  subject,  it  evinces  the  necessity  for  Congress  to 
be  extremely  cautious  in  admitting  land  claims  not  warranted 
by  the  general  system  adopted  for  granting  lands.  I  am  told 
that  almost  every  seller  at  Detroit  derives  his  claim  from  an 
Indian  title.  It  seems  that  it  will  be  best  to  confirm  their  pos 
session  as  sellers  only,  and  not  as  purchasers  or  grantees  under 
the  Indians.  The  same  remark  will  probably  apply  to  many 
occupants  at  Kaskaskia  and  in  Upper  Louisiana.  But  exclu 
sively  of  sellers,  I  am  informed  indirectly,  though  the  information 
comes  from  Hoffman,  that  many  millions  of  acres  will  be  claimed 
between  Lake  Huron  and  Michigan  under  Indian  grants ;  and 
I  presume  that  you  are  acquainted  with  the  pretended  claims 
of  the  Wabash  and  Illinois  companies.  Carver's  grant  makes 
another,  and  there  may  be  many  more. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


1805.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  219 

GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 
NAMES  OF  PERSONS  FOB  ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 

Russell,  of  Rhode  Island  ;  unknown. 
Brockholst  Livingston,  of  New  York;  would  not  accept. 
M.  Dickerson,  of  Philadelphia;  not  equal. 
Rodney,  M.  C.,  of  Delaware;  not  equal. 
Gabriel  Duval,  of  Maryland.     Quere,  whether  he  would  not 
accept;  in  which  case  Joseph  Clay  might  be  made  Comptroller. 
Walter  Jones,  of  Columbia,  Virginia. 
J.  T.  Mason,  of  Virginia ;  the  best,  if  he  will  accept. 
Breckenridge,  of  Kentucky ;  very  good,  if  he  will  accept. 

I  am  so  little  acquainted  with  the  characters,  &c.,  of  profes 
sional  gentlemen  who  have  not  been  in  public  life,  that  it  is  not 
practicable  for  me  to  make  a  good  list.  I  will,  however,  make 
some  further  inquiries,  principally  to  know  whether  there  are 
any  Republicans  prominent  characters  in  Pennsylvania. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  S.  L.  MITCHELL,  U.  S.  SEN. 

Private. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  3d  January,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  was  favored  with  your  letter  of  the  28th  ult., 
and  have  been  prevented  from  making  an  earlier  answer  by  a 
multiplicity  of  other  avocations.  Even  now  I  cannot  take  as 
comprehensive  a  view  of  a  subject  which  does  not  come  within 
the  sphere  of  my  official  duties  as  I  would  wish,  and  you  must 
be  satisfied  with  a  few  general  remarks. 

A  species  of  trade  may  be  considered  as  illicit,  either  in  re 
lation  to  the  laws  of  the  nation  of  which  the  traders  are  citizens 
or  subjects,  or  in  relation  to  the  general  law  of  nations,  or  to  the 
municipal  laws  of  the  nation  into  whose  territories  the  trade  is 
carried.  Let,  for  the  present  and  in  order  to  avoid  confusion 
of  ideas,  the  definition  of  illicit  trade  be  confined  to  that  species 


220  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

of  commerce  which,  though  not  prohibited  by  the  laws  of  the 
country  to  which  the  traders  belong,  is  contrary  either  to  the 
acknowledged  law  of  nations  or  to  the  regulations  of  the  country 
with  whom  the  trade  is  carried. 

An  illicit  trade,  if  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations,  as  in  the 
case  of  contraband  articles,  attempt  to  enter  a  blockaded  port, 
&c.,  renders  the  party  liable  to  capture  and  condemnation.  If 
contrary  to  the  municipal  laws  of  the  country  with  which  car 
ried,  whether  because  absolutely  prohibited,  as  in  case  of  in 
fractions  of  the  colonial  commercial  system  of  Spain  and  other 
nations,  or  because  done  in  a  manner  contrary  to  the  regulations 
on  that  subject,  as  in  case  of  common  smuggling  or  other  infrac 
tions  of  the  revenue  or  navigation  laws  of  the  country,  the  party 
is  in  same  manner  liable  to  capture  and  condemnation,  and,  in 
addition  thereto,  to  such  penalties,  or  even  personal  punishment, 
as  the  laws  of  the  country  have  provided.  In  either  case,  the 
armed  public,  revenue,  or  other  authorized  vessels  of  the  bel 
ligerent  power,  or  of  the  country  whose  laws  are  violated,  have 
a  right  to  capture  the  offending  party ;  and  in  either  case  the 
courts  of  the  captors  are  the  proper  tribunal  to  try  the  offence. 
In  either  case,  also,  resistance  to  an  armed  vessel  duly  commis 
sioned  and  authorized  is  illegal,  becomes  by  itself  a  sufficient  cause 
of  condemnation,  and  renders  the  party  liable  to  distinct  punish 
ment.  In  common  cases  of  illicit  trade,  of  whatever  nature  that 
trade  may  be,  the  individuals  who  carry  it  are  responsible  for 
their  conduct,  and  punishable  by  the  aggrieved  nation  without 
having  a  right  to  call  on  their  own  country  for  protection ;  but 
the  country  to  which  they  belong  is  not  generally  bound  to 
pass  restrictive  laws  prohibiting  such  trade.  Neutral  nations, 
though  they  consider  it  sometimes  to  be  good  policy  to  do  it, 
are  not  obliged  to  enforce  the  law  of  nations  by  positive  statutes 
against  their  own  subjects  or  citizens;  they  are  not  bound,  for 
instance,  to  prohibit  the  exportation  of  even  arms  or  gunpowder, 
though  avowedly  exported  to  the  country  of  either  of  the  bel 
ligerent  powers.  Nor  are  nations  bound  to  pass  laws  prohibit 
ing  to  their  subjects  or  citizens  commerce,  such  as  that  with  the 
colonies  of  another  nation,  which  is  illicit  only  by  reason  of  the 
particular  statutes  of  other  nations.  But,  although  this  be  a 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  221 

good  rule  in  common  cases,  it  will  be  allowed  that  there  are 
circumstances  under  which  the  conduct  of  illicit  traders  might 
go  such  length,  especially  if  they  shall  use  force,  as  would 
render  it  necessary  for  the  purpose  of  preserving  national  peace 
that  the  country  to  which  they  belong  should,  by  prohibitory  or 
restrictive  statutes,  prevent  the  acts  of  violence  which  endanger 
that  peace. 

Two  questions  will,  therefore,  arise  in  relation  to  the  San 
Domingo  trade,  which  is  the  avowed  object  of  the  bill  under 
consideration  :  1st,  is  it  illicit?  2d,  if  illicit,  ought  the  United 
States,  under  present  circumstances,  interfere  by  restrictive  stat 
utes?  If  those  two  questions  shall  be  answered  in  the  affirma 
tive,  the  modifications  of  which  the  bill  may  be  susceptible  will 
be  a  subject  of  subsequent  consideration. 

To  the  first  question  there  can  be  no  hesitation  in  answering: 
1st,  that  the  trade  to  San  Domingo  is  in  itself  illicit  in  toto;  2dly, 
that  it  is  carried  in  a  manner  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations. 

The  chambers  of  commerce,  merchants,  &c.,  have  indeed  ac 
knowledged  that  so  far  as  that  trade  might  consist  of  contraband 
articles  it  was  illicit,  and  they  have  affected  to  consider  that 
question  as  if  the  blacks  of  San  Domingo  were  one  of  the  bel 
ligerent  powers  and  France  another.  But  this  is  not  the  true 
state  of  the  question.  San  Domingo  is  a  French  colony,  recog 
nized  as  such  by  the  United  States  and  by  every  European  nation, 
a  colony  in  a  state  of  rebellion  against  the  mother-country ;  and 
the  question  is  whether  any  nation  has  a  right  to  carry  on  com 
merce  with  a  port,  province,  or  colony  in  a  state  of  rebellion 
against  that  country  of  which  it  has  heretofore  been  acknowl 
edged  as  a  part.  On  that  point  there  does  not  and  there  never 
has  existed  any  doubt.  Such  trade  is,  by  the  common  consent 
of  all  nations,  as  well  as  in  conformity  with  the  rules  of  common 
justice  and  common  sense,  altogether  illegal,  and  will  render 
parties  concerned  therein  liable  to  capture,  condemnation,  and 
such  other  punishment  as  the  aggrieved  nation  shall  think  proper 
by  law  to  provide.  It  is  clear  that  in  such  cases  other  nations 
must  either  continue  to  acknowledge  the  supremacy  of  the  nation 
over  its  rebellious  province  or  colony,  and  therefore  submit 
to  its  laws  and  regulations  respecting  the  commerce  with  such 


222  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

province  or  colony,  or  acknowledge,  at  the  risk  or  rather  with 
the  certainty  of  a  war,  the  independence  of  the  rebellious  province 
or  colony.  During  the  whole  of  the  Revolutionary  American 
war,  England  took  and  condemned  every  neutral  vessel  bound 
to  the  United  States  which  their  vessels  met  with :  there  was 
not  on  that  ground  the  least  objection,  not  even  at  the  time 
when  the  armed  neutrality  took  place ;  and  even  France,  though 
she  afterwards  acknowledged  the  independence  of  America,  and 
thereby  became  a  party  in  the  war,  did  not  only,  so  long  as  she 
intended  to  remain  at  peace,  abstain  from  asserting  the  doctrine 
which  she  afterwards  attempted  to  uphold  on  that  subject  in 
her  declaratory  memorial,  but  went  so  far  as  ostensibly  to  give 
orders,  on  the  British  minister's  complaint,  for  the  detention  of 
such  vessels  laden  with  military  supplies  as  were  bound  for  the 
United  States.  It  is  also  well  known  that  England  made  war 
on  Holland  because  she  did  not  disavow  the  conduct  of  Amster 
dam  in  making  a  conditional  treaty  of  commerce  with  America; 
and  that  the  armed  neutrality,  of  which  Holland  was  a  member, 
refused  to  interfere  in  her  favor,  because  the  powers  of  which  it 
was  composed,  anxious  as  they  then  were  for  the  freedom  of 
commerce  and  the  doctrine  of  mare  liberum,  considered  the  con 
duct  of  Holland  as  a  breach  of  neutrality,  and,  in  common  with 
all  other  nations,  felt  that  the  principle  she  had  assumed  was 
dangerous  to  the  safety  of  every  government.  In  that  respect 
the  justice  or  injustice  of  the  nation  to  its  rebellious  province  or 
colony  is  altogether  out  of  the  question  as  it  relates  to  other 
nations.  Of  that  they  have  no  right  to  judge  unless  they  think 
proper  to  become  parties  in  the  civil  quarrel ;  and  all  they  have 
to  do  is  to  wait  for  the  event.  Nor  is  the  distinction  of  govern 
ment  de  facto  (as  different  from  that  de  jure)  applicable  to  this 
case.  It  is  perfectly  true  that  when  a  revolution  takes  place 
which  aifects  a  whole  country,  other  nations  are  bound  to  consider 
as  the  legitimate  authority  the  powers  who  have  the  actual  pos 
session  of  government;  but  they  are  equally  bound  to  consider 
every  part  of  the  country  as  under  the  authority  of  those  who  are 
in  possession  of  the  government  of  the  country  generally.  That 
doubtful  cases  might  arise,  as  if  the  Bourbon  family  occupied 
one  half  of  France  and  Bonaparte  the  other  half,  is  true;  and 


1805.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  223 

the  prudence  of  other  governments  must  dictate  their  conduct 
in  such  delicate  circumstances ;  but  the  instance  of  San  Domingo 
is  no  such  one :  it  is  a  plain  one,  on  which  there  can  be  but  one 
opinion.  Suppose  New  Orleans  to  be  in  the  situation  in  which 
San  Domingo  now  is,  and  let  any  one  answer  the  question ;  or 
even  substitute  Ireland  to  San  Domingo  and  England  to  France, 
and  let  Mr.  Murray  and  the  New  York  Chamber  of  Commerce 
decide. 

But  the  commerce  to  San  Domingo  is  not  only  illicit,  but  it 
is  carried  on  in  a  manner  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations.  It  has 
become  a  trade  forced  by  arms  against  the  public  or  private 
armed  vessels  of  France,  who,  under  the  law  of  nations,  whether 
France  be  considered  as  a  belligerent  power,  or  in  the  act  of 
preventing  her  rebellious  subjects  from  receiving  any  kind  of 
supplies,  have  an  undoubted  right  to  search,  capture,  and  send 
for  adjudication  any  neutral  vessel  which  they  have  reason  to 
consider  as  concerned  in  such  trade.  That  resistance  to  such 
vessels  is  illegal  will  not  be  denied;  and  it  will  not  be  a  jus 
tification  for  those  illegal  acts  that  resistance  may  legally  be 
made  against  other  vessels  who  are  not  duly  commissioned  and 
authorized. 

It  is  for  this  last  reason,  it  is  because  the  trade  to  San  Domingo, 
illicit  in  itself,  is  carried  on,  in  the  most  open  manner,  by  force 
of  arms  contrary  to  the  law  of  nations ;  it  is  because  fleets  of 
armed  vessels,  insured  as  if  engaged  in  the  most  legal  trade, 
openly  sail  from  our  ports  with  the  avowed  design  of  forcing 
their  way  to  San  Domingo  and  of  resisting  commissioned  as 
well  as  unauthorized  French  armed  vessels,  that  the  question  has 
acquired  national  importance,  and  that  legislative  interference 
becomes  necessary  in  order  to  preserve  the  peace  of  the  nation 
which  the  avidity  of  a  few  individuals  has  already  endangered. 
So  long  as  force  was  not  used,  or  so  long  as  it  was  used  so 
rarely  as  not  to  create  alarm,  the  United  States  were  not  bound 
to  forbid  an  illicit  trade  or  to  provide  in  a  special  manner  against 
occasional  acts  of  violence.  It  is  the  magnitude  of  the  evil 
which  calls  for  a  remedy. 

Three  different  modes  might  have  been  adopted  in  that  respect, 
• — to  prohibit  the  trade  altogether;  to  prohibit  arming  altogether, 


224  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

or,  which  is  the  object  of  the  bill,  to  restrain  only  those  unlawful 
acts  of  violence  which  had  given  just  cause  of  complaint  to  the 
French  government.  It  will  not  be  denied  that  the  last  mode 
is  the  mildest,  and  that  which  lays  the  least  possible  restraint  on 
American  commerce. 

Here  let  it  be  observed  that  from  the  year  1793,  when  the  war 
between  Great  Britain  and  France  took  place,  to  the  year  1798, 
when  government  resolved  to  repel  the  French  aggressions  by 
force,  arming  private  vessels  was,  with  the  exception  of  those 
bound  to  the  East  Indies  or  Mediterranean,  absolutely  forbidden 
by  a  mere  Executive  act;  and  that  when  the  President,  in  1798, 
withdrew  the  prohibition,  Congress  immediately  took  up  the 
subject,  and,  in  the  same  law  in  which  they  authorized  private 
vessels  to  resist  in  every  case  armed  French  vessels,  provided 
against  the  unlawful  use  of  force  as  it  related  to  nations  in  amity 
with  the  United  States.  That  Act,  passed  the  25th  of  June, 
1798,  and  which  would  have  expired  on  the  14th  of  May,  1800, 
was  continued  in  force  by  Act  of  22d  of  April,  1800.  It  ex 
pired  by  its  own  limitation  on  the  3d  of  May,  1802,  at  which 
time,  Europe  being  at  peace,  the  subject  was  unattended  to. 
Subsequent  to  the  renewal  of  the  European  war,  the  President 
did  not  think  proper  to  assume  the  authority  which  had  been 
exercised  by  his  predecessors,  to  permit  or  forbid,  at  his  pleasure, 
the  arming  of  vessels;  and  Congress  having  neglected,  during 
last  session,  to  renew  or  modify  the  provisions  of  the  former  Act, 
the  effect  of  an  unrestrained  permission  to  arm  has  been  imme 
diately  felt.  From  that  view  of  facts  it  results  that,  except  since 
the  renewal  of  the  European  war,  American  merchants  had  been 
uniformly  either  prohibited  altogether  to  arm,  or  placed  under 
restrictions  in  some  degree  similar  to  those  proposed  by  the 
bill  now  under  consideration,  and  that  they  have  abused  the 
permission  to  arm  as  soon  as  it  was  unrestrained  and  it  became 
their  interest  to  do  it. 

The  principal  features  of  the  present  bill  are,  1st,  that  the 
owners  shall  give  bond  in  a  sum  equal  to  double  the  value  of 
the  vessel,  arms,  &c.,  conditioned  that  no  unlawful  use  of  the 
arms  of  such  vessel  (generally)  shall  be  made  against  nations 
in  amity  with  the  United  States;  2dly,  that  the  individuals 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  225 

who  may  make  such  unlawful  use  of  arms  shall  be  punished 
for  such  acts  as  if  committed  within  the  exclusive  jurisdiction 
of  the  United  States. 

I  cannot  perceive  that  any  well-founded  objections  can  be 
made  against  either  of  those  two  principles.  The  forfeiture  of 
the  bond,  as  well  as  the  punishment  of  the  individuals,  rests 
altogether  on  the  unlawfulness  of  the  act.  As  it  is  lawful  to 
resist,  in  self-defence,  any  pirate  or  non-commissioned  or  other 
wise  unauthorized  armed  vessel,  the  penalties  of  the  Act  cannot 
attach  to  any  of  the  cases  in  which  the  necessity  of  using  arms 
has  been  alleged.  It  is  evident  that  persons  objecting  to  the 
principles  of  the  bill  must  avow  an  intention  to  do  what  they 
know  to  be  unlawful  acts ;  that  they  intend,  in  fact,  to  resist 
authorized  armed  French  vessels,  and  to  force  at  all  events  an 
acknowledged  illicit  trade.  Supposing  some  of  the  positions 
which  I  have  assumed  respecting  the  law  of  nations  and  an 
illicit  trade  to  be  erroneous,  the  error  will  not  affect  the  argu 
ment  in  favor  of  the  principles  of  the  bill ;  for  it  is  only  what 
is  unlawful  which  is  forbidden,  and  it  is  left  with  the  courts 
and  juries  to  decide  whether  the  acts  which  shall  have  been 
committed  are  lawful  or  unlawful.  By  recurring  to  the  memo 
rial  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  New  York  it  will  be  per 
ceived  that  the  principal  act  which  they  omit  in  their  own  enu 
meration  of  unlawful  acts  by  a  neutral,  is  resistance  to  the  armed 
vessel  of  a  belligerent  which  is  not  a  public  vessel ;  they  ac 
knowledge  resistance  to  a  public  armed  vessel  to  be  unlawful ; 
by  the  omission  they  imply  that  resistance  to  a  duly  commis 
sioned  privateer  is  lawful.  I  need  not  say  that  the  distinction 
is  unfounded,  and  has  never  been  acknowledged,  except  by 
special  conventions,  and  only  in  the  case  of  convoys. 

If  the  principles  of  the  bill  are  correct,  the  details  alone  re 
main  to  be  examined ;  and  it  is  principally  necessary  that  they 
should  be  such  as  with  certainty  to  carry  the  principles  into 
effect.  On  that  subject  I  have  but  few  observations  to  make. 

In  the  first  section,  I  think  that  it  would  be  an  improvement 

if  the  owners  were  obliged  to  give  bond  in  a  fixed  sum,  say  ten 

or  twenty  thousand  dollars,  in  addition  to  double  the  value  of 

the  vessel,  arms,  &c.     This  would  not  be  liable  to  the  objec- 

VOL.  i. — 16 


226  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

tion  which  induced  the  House  to  strike  out  the  word  "  cargo/' 
viz.,  that  in  the  East  India  trade  the  bond  would  be  for  an 
enormous  sum ;  and  it  would  give  security  in  those  cases  where 
the  vessel  itself  may  be  worth  but  a  trifle  compared  with  the 
value  and  expected  profits  of  the  voyage. 

In  the  same  section,  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  no  reason 
why  the  last  condition  expressed  in  the  3d  Section  of  the  Act  of 
the  25th  June,  1798,  should  not  be  inserted.  The  Act  is  made 
so  mild  that  the  only  danger  to  be  apprehended  is  that  its 
provisions  will  be  inefficient  and  its  intention  defeated.  The 
proposed  proviso  would  enable  the  President  to  add  such  re 
strictions  as  experience  might  show  to  be  necessary ;  and  it  is 
not  liable  to  the  well-founded  objections  made  against  the  sec 
tion  rejected  by  the  House,  which  authorized  the  President  to 
prevent  altogether  the  sailing  of  armed  vessels  under  certain 
circumstances. 

The  second  section  is  obscure,  and,  I  think,  misprinted.  Mr. 
Madison  proposes,  as  a  substitute,  a  much  shorter  one,  which 
I  enclose. 

In  the  third  section,  the  provision  which  subjects  the  value 
of  the  vessel  to  forfeiture  should  be  more  explicit,  by  declaring 
that  such  value  shall  be  recovered  from  either  the  owners  or 
master  of  the  vessel.  Penal  statutes  are  construed  strictly ;  in 
every  suit  the  bias  is  against  the  United  States ;  and  the  penalty 
might  be  evaded  if  the  persons  from  whom  it  must  be  recovered, 
when  the  vessel  cannot  be  seized,  are  not  described. 

I  will  trouble  you  no  longer,  and  you  must  excuse  this  long, 
unconnected  letter,  but  I  have  not  time  to  write  either  a  better 
or  a  shorter  one. 

Believe  me  to  be,  with  great  regard  and  respect,  your  very 
obedient  servant. 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  227 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 
"REMARKS  ON  THE  INAUGURAL. 

[12th  February,  1805.] 

Louisiana. — "  That  the  acquisition  may  pay  for  itself  before 
we  are  called  on,  and  keep  down  the  accruing  interest,"  had,  I 
think,  be  better  omitted,  or  at  least  modified,  as  it  is  rather  going 
too  far  in  saying  that  such  event  is  probable :  it  is  barely  possible. 
"  The  larger  our  association,  the  less  will  it  be  shaken  by  local 
passions" — is  not  this  doubtful  and  too  generally  expressed  ? 

Religion. — May  not  another  expression  be  substituted  to  that 
of  sects? 

I  had  rather  not  to  particularize  the  acts  of  fasting,  pray 
ing,  &c.,  as  things  which  ought  not  to  be  prescribed  or  controlled 
by  the  general  government.  The  sentiment  is  certainly  true, 
but  it  implies  censure  not  only  on  predecessors,  but  on  the  State 
governors,  city  mayors,  &c.,  who,  though  they  have  no  more 
authority  under  the  States  than  the  President  under  the  gen 
eral  government  for  that  object,  have  nevertheless  issued  procla 
mations  of  that  kind. 

Indians. — "The  virtues"  is  too  general ;  they  have  but  a  few, 
— I  think  very  few.  As  it  relates  to  the  moral  causes  which 
prevent  their  improvement,  I  think  licentiousness  to  be  the  prin 
cipal,  and  the  consequent  want  of  the  social  institutions  which 
establish  and  secure  property  and  marriage  to  be  the  greatest 
obstacles  to  civilization.  But,  supposing  even  the  whole  of  what 
is  stated  on  that  subject  in  the  speech,  to  be  correct,  the  allusion 
to  old-school  doctrines  and  to  New  England  habits  appears  to  me 
inexpedient,  and  I  would  strike  out  at  least  from  "  great  efforts" 
to  "  same  land." 

Press. — Would  it  not  be  better  to  suppress  all  which  may  be 
considered  as  expressions  of  personal  feelings,  say  from  "  valu 
ing  characters"  to  "  indignation"  ?  Yet  the  idea  that  the  licen 
tiousness  of  the  press  lessens  its  usefulness  should  not  be 
omitted.  In  the  remainder  of  that  article  there  is  perhaps 
more  said  on  the  subject  of  the  re-election  than  is  necessary. 
Those  two  heads,  Indians  and  Press,  appear  to  me  susceptible 
of  improvement,  and,  if  the  President  should  think  it  proper  to 


228  WRITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1805. 

expunge  any  considerable  part,  will  of  coarse  require  some  new 
modifications  in  the  arrangement. 

For  the  same  reason  which  made  me  object  to  the  general 
plan  of  the  speech,  I  would  suggest  the  propriety  of  dilating 
more  on  what  is  due,  in  the  beneficial  results  of  the  Adminis 
tration,  to  the  legislative  acts  of  Congress,  and  to  the  people 
themselves,  both  as  electors  of  Congress  and  as  influencing 
measures  by  the  weight  of  public  opinion. 

The  more  that  has  been  done  shall  in  the  speech  be  ascribed 
to  others  than  the  Executive,  the  less  shall  any  imputation  of 
self-applause  attach  to  it. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  28th  March,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  bad  arrangement  of  districts  on  the  lakes 
had  heretofore  prevented  the  organization  of  the  district  of  Erie, 
which  includes  Cayuga.  A  representation  was  made  on  that 
subject  to  Congress,  and  a  law  was  obtained  which,  amongst  other 
things,  authorizes  you  to  designate  the  port  of  entry  and  delivery 
for  the  district  of  Erie.  Cayuga  is  the  most  proper  place  for  that 
purpose,  and  I  mentioned  to  you  that  as  soon  as  I  could  hear  of 
a  proper  character  for  the  office  I  would  submit  the  appointment 
to  you.  This  of  course  has  anticipated  the  request  of  the  As 
sembly  of  Ohio,  as  it  will  give  them  not  only  a  port  of  delivery 
but  one  of  entry  at  Cayuga.  It  may  be  expected  that  the  district 
will  be  organized  in  the  course  of  the  spring. 

I  have  nothing  new  to  mention.  The  Treasury  is  poor,  and 
if  all  the  bills  come  at  once  from  France,  it  will  be  difficult,  even 
with  the  assistance  of  the  bank,  to  meet  them.  A  loan  of  about 
one  million  and  a  half  will  be  necessary,  but  I  think  we  will  be 
able  to  repay  it  in  the  course  of  the  year. 

Mr.  Livingston's  arrangements  on  that  and  some  other  subjects 
have  not  been  the  best  possible ;  and  much  do  I  fear  that  his 
interference  and  schemes  respecting  Florida  have  done  much  to 
prevent  Mr.  Monroe's  success  in  Spain. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


1805.  LETTEES,    ETC.  229 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  April  3,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR,— Your  favor  of  26th  [28th  ?]  March  is  received, 
and  I  learn  with  real  concern  the  danger  that  a  temporary  loan 
may  be  necessary,  because  we  know  how  it  will  be  perverted  to 
throw  dust  in  the  eyes  of  the  people.  However,  if  no  other  ex 
pedient  can  be  used,  we  must  meet  it.  I  have  no  expectation  that 
Monroe  will  be  able  to  get  any  acknowledgment  of  boundary 
which  we  can  admit.  The  next  best  measure  will  be  to  obtain 
a  free  use  of  the  rivers  of  either  party,  rising  within  the  limits 
of  the  other,  and  that  neither  party  shall  either  settle  or  fortify 
within  the  disputed  country  until  the  limits  can  be  fixed.  This 
will  give  us  time  to  await  and  avail  ourselves  of  events.  I 
presume  the  appointment  of  Flowers  may  wait  my  return.  In 
the  mean  time  the  other  may  be  heard  from.  I  have  desired 
the  Postmaster-General  to  forward  nothing  to  me  here  after  the 
5th  instant,  as  I  expect  to  be  with  you  in  a  fortnight.  Accept 
affectionate  salutations  and  assurances  of  constant  friendship 
and  respect. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFFRSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  23d  April,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  the  sketch  of  an  Act  for  organizing  the 
new  district  of  Sacket  Harbor,  in  conformity  with  the  Act  of  3d 
March,  1 803  (6th  vol.  p.  273).  If  you  approve  of  the  form  and 
division,  a  fair  copy  shall  be  prepared  for  your  signature. 

Pierce's  plan  of  a  depreciating  paper  is  returned.  Herman 
Husband,  the  Pennsylvania  "madman,  proposed  a  similar  one  to 
the  Legislature  of  that  State  in  the  year  1779 ;  only  his  paper, 
instead  of  depreciating  at  a  regular  rate  each  time  it  passed  in 
the  hands  of  another  man,  was  to  depreciate,  instead  of  bearing 
interest,  regularly  every  day  so  as  to  be  worth  nothing  at  the 
end  of  three  years.  Pierce's  paper  is  to  be  worth  nothing  when 
it  shall  have  passed  through  the  hands  of  ten  persons.  It  is 


230  WKITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

evident  that  such  paper,  without  the  assistance  of  severe  tender 
laws,  will  be  worth  nothing  from  the  day  it  is  issued.  But, 
supposing  such  laws  to  exist  and  to  be  enforced,  what  do  such 
plans  amount  to?  If  the  depreciation  is  very  gradual,  say  one 
per  cent.,  or  one  per  thousand,  instead  of  ten  per  cent,  on  each 
payment,  it  is  perfectly  similar  to  a  stamp  duty  on  receipts, 
notes,  &c.  If  the  depreciation  be  at  the  rate  of  ten  per  cent.,  as 
suggested  by  Pierce,  it  is  the  Spanish  alcabala. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  9th  May,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  Mr.  Sanford's  answer  respecting  a 
district  judge.  Van  Wyke  is  certainly  very  young,  not  above 
twenty-five ;  he  is  General  Van  Cortlandt's  nephew,  and  has  the 
negative  recommendation  of  being  neither  a  Livingston  nor  a 
Clinton.  The  persons  proposed  are,  therefore, 

Brockholst  Livingston. 

George  Clinton,  Jr. 

Tallmage  (Governor  Clinton's  son-in-law,  and  would  both  in 
New  York  and  in  the  State  be  preferred  to  George). 

Van  Wyke. 

I  must  repeat  that  I  will  not  consider  the  revenue  as  very  safe 
under  B.  Livingston.  His  decision,  as  a  State  judge,  in  the  case 
of  the  Sandy  Hook  beacons  was  very  inimical,  and  at  the  time 
ascribed  by  some  to  E.  Livingston's  removal.  If  you  continue 
of  opinion  that  Swartwout  shall  be  removed  unless  he  pays,  and 
you  will  be  pleased  to  direct  a  commission  in  the  name  of  Peter 
A.  Schenk,  the  person  recommended  by  De  Witt  Clinton,  to  be 
sent  to  me,  I  will  transmit  it  to  Mr.  Sanford  with  instructions 
to  give  it,  unless  Mr.  Swartwout  shall  make  payment  within  a 
limited  time. 

I  have  received  Latrobe's  plan  of  fire-proof  buildings,  but 
cannot  understand  it  fully  without  referring  to  the  general  sketch 
which  he  has  sent  you.  I  will  do  myself  the  pleasure  to  wait  on 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  231 

you  to-morrow  for  that  purpose,  but  I  had  expected  that  he 
would  come  and  stay  here  a  few  days.  Of  Tatham's  fitness 
for  any  actual  employment  I  cannot  judge.  He  has  certainly 
genius,  but  the  appearance  of  something  bordering  on  mental 
derangement.  I  may  be  mistaken,  and  would  like  to  know. 
With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  28th  May,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  last  paragraph  of  the  enclosed  letter  seems 
to  confirm  the  hints  that  Great  Britain  had  not  succeeded  in 
forming  any  efficient  alliance  on  the  Continent. 

There  is  an  Act  passed  by  the  Legislative  Council  of  Orleans 
for  dividing  the  Territory  into  counties,  which,  if  it  has  been 
received  either  by  you  or  by  the  Department  of  State,  would 
assist  in  dividing  the  two  land  districts.  It  will  be  necessary 
to  establish  it  soon,  as  Mr.  Thomson  has  accepted  and  writes 
that  he  will  be  on  the  spot  in  July. 

By  a  sketch  of  the  revenue  (impost)  for  1804,  I  find  that 
after  deducting  the  drawbacks,  debentures,  bounties,  expenses 
of  collection,  it  amounts  to  $13,180,000 

That  of  1803  was  only  (on  which  our  estimates 
are  founded)  $11,310,000 

making  an  increase  of  $1,870,000 

which  arises  from  the  following  items,  viz. : 
New  Orleans  revenue,  $270,000 

Light  money  and  specific  duties  for  six  months  at 

most,  100,000 

Mediterranean  fund  for  six  months,  470,000 

Natural  and  war  increase,  1,100,000 

$1,940,000 

Deduct  increased  expenses  of  collection,  $70,000 

Increase  as  above,  $1,870,000 

Our  receipts  have  not,  however,  kept  altogether  pace  this  year 


232  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

with  that  apparent  increase,  owing  principally  to  the  great  re 
exportations  this  year  of  articles  imported  last  season. 

The  gross  revenue  of  New  Orleans  has  been  for  the  three  last 
quarters  of  1804  $232,576 

add  for  another  quarter  68,000 

makes  for  the  whole  year  $300,576 

The  first  quarter  of  1804  gave  but  34,000  dollars  under  the 
Spanish  duties  and  regulations.  Our  laws  commenced  on  1st 
April. 

With  great  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

May  29,  1805. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  have  no  information  that  the  Act  dividing  Orleans  into 
counties  is  passed.  By  the  papers  which  came  yesterday  it  ap 
peared  to  have  been  twice  read  and  committed.  Would  not 
the  waters  of  the  Red  River  form  one  proper  district,  and  the 
residuary  country  another  ?  or  the  waters  of  the  Red  River  and 
the  country  above  and  between  that  and  the  Mississippi  for  one, 
and  the  residuary  country  the  other  ? 

The  financial  part  of  your  letter  is  highly  pleasing.  There 
must  be  something  more  in  this  increase  of  revenue  than  the 
natural  and  war  increase;  depreciation  to  a  small  degree  in 
other  countries,  a  sensible  one  in  this,  and  a  great  one  in  Eng 
land,  must  make  a  part  of  it,  and  is  a  lesson  to  us  to  prefer  ad 
valorem  to  fixed  duties.  The  latter  require  often  retouching, 
or  they  become  delusive.  As  to  the  Orleans  revenue,  I  pre 
sume  we  may  consider  it  as  the  consumption  of  60,000  people 
and  their  increase,  added  to  that  of  6,000,000  and  their  in 
crease;  for  though  the  former  will  increase  faster  than  the  lat 
ter,  it  will  only  be  by  drawing  off  numbers  from  them.  But, 
from  whatever  cause,  the  increase  of  revenue  is  a  pleasing  cir 
cumstance,  as  it  hastens  the  moment  of  liberating  our  revenue, 
and  of  permitting  us  to  begin  upon  canals,  roads,  colleges,  &c. 


1805.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  233 

I  presume  you  will  locate  on  your  map  the  Indians  from  Sib- 
ley's  statement;  my  maps  being  in  the  hands  of  the  binder,  I 
cannot  do  it ;  but  when  you  shall  have  done  it,  I  shall  be  glad 
to  have  a  consultation  with  you  on  the  extent  to  which  we  may 
lay  off  townships,  and  of  the  assurance  we  may  give  to  the 
Indians  included  within  them.  I  enclose  you  a  paper  at  Mr. 
Madison's  request.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIX  TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  30th  May,  1805. 
DEAR  SIR, — I  have  taken  notes  of  the  situation  of  the  Indian 
tribes  in  Lower  Louisiana  as  given  by  Sibley,  and,  having  com 
pared  them  with  Humboldt's  and  Nolen's  sketches,  think  that  I 
can  locate  them  all  with  sufficient  correctness  for  present  pur 
poses.  But  the  great  desideratum  is  a  map,  not  good,  but  at  least 
tolerable.  The  documents  we  have  are  not  merely  imperfect, 
but  altogether  contradictory,  principally  for  the  Attacapa  and 
part  of  the  Opelousas  districts.  I  am  now  preparing  at  leisure 
moments  a  rough  sketch,  in  which  the  ascertained  points  will  be 
fixed,  and  an  attempt  made  to  reconcile  the  clashing  authorities. 
This,  till  we  have  better  information,  will  at  least  do  better 
than  any  of  our  existing  maps,  and  I  will  locate  the  Indian 
tribes  in  it.  Most  of  those  tribes  within  the  tract  we  mean  to 
have  surveyed  are  within  the  existing  settlements,  and  appear 
to  be  cultivators.  It  is  presumable  that  they  have  but  very 
limited  claims,  and,  exclusively  of  the  communications  to  be 
made  by  the  Indian  agent  or  superintendent,  great  confidence 
may  be  placed  on  the  discretion  and  tenderness  for  Indian 
rights  of  Mr.  Briggs.  At  present  I  can  only  add  that  in  one 
of  Clark's  sketches  I  have  discovered  three  Indian  villages  not 
mentioned  by  Sibley,  one  of  Chitimachas,  at  the  place  where 
Bayou  Plaquemine  unites  with  the  Chafalaya,  and  two  of  a 
nation  called  Ouachas,  or  Conchas  (the  writing  in  French  not 
being  very  legible),  on  the  branches  or  bayous  of  the  Chafalaya 
below  the  Chitimachas.  The  Bayou  Chico,  mentioned  by  Sibley 


234  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

as  a  branch  of  the  Opelousa,  and  the  seat  of  two  tribes,  I  can 
find  in  no  map  or  sketch  whatever.  I  believe  that  on  exami 
nation  of  the  relative  situations,  you  will  find  that  the  Opelousa 
and  Attacapa  districts  will  be  much  more  conveniently  united, 
as  a  land  office  district,  with  the  Red  River  settlement  than  with 
those  on  the  Mississippi. 

I  had  earnestly  requested  that  expenditures  might  be  as  mod 
erate  as  possible  for  a  few  months,  in  order  that  our  receipts 
might  so  accumulate  as  to  enable  us  to  meet  the  French  bills 
without  borrowing.  As  it  seems  by  Mr.  Armstrong's  last  letter 
that  they  will  not  come  for  some  time,  it  is  probable  that  we  will 
avoid  that  evil  resource.  But  it  is  proper  that  I  should  state 
that  the  War  Department  has  assisted  us  in  that  respect  much 
better  than  the  Navy  Department,  as  will  appear  from  the  en 
closed  account  of  expenditures  for  each  during  the  first  five 
months  of  this  year.  Yet,  in  relation  to  the  navy,  no  fleet  has 
been  fitted  this  spring ;  and  four  months'  pay  to  the  five  or  six 
hundred  men  sent  by  the  John  Adams  and  gunboats,  which 
was  the  only  extraordinary  expense,  is  an  object  of  only  sixty 
or  seventy  thousand  dollars.  As  I  know  that  there  was  an  equal 
wish  in  both  Departments  to  aid  in  this  juncture,  it  must  be  con 
cluded  either  that  the  War  is  better  organized  than  the  Navy 
Department,  or  that  naval  business  cannot  be  conducted  on 
reasonable  terms.  Whatever  the  cause  may  be,  I  dare  predict 
that  whilst  that  state  of  things  continues  we  will  have  no  navy, 
nor  shall  progress  towards  having  one.  As  a  citizen  of  the 
United  States,  it  is  an  event  that  I  will  not  deprecate;  but  I 
think  it  due  to  the  credit  of  your  Administration  that  after  so 
much  has  been  expended  on  that  account,  you  should  leave  an 
increase  of  rather  than  an  impaired  fleet.  On  this  subject,  the 
expense  of  the  navy  greater  than  the  object  seemed  to  require, 
and  a  merely  nominal  accountability,  I  have,  for  the  sake  of 
preserving  perfect  harmony  in  your  councils,  however  grating 
to  my  feelings,  been  almost  uniformly  silent ;  and  I  beg  that 
you  will  ascribe  what  I  now  say  to  a  sense  of  duty  and  to  the 
grateful  attachment  I  feel  for  you. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


1805.  LETTEKS,   ETC.  235 

If  you  have  no  objection,  I  would  wish  to  be  absent  next 
week,  as  a  short  jaunt  will  be  of  service  to  me. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  1st  July,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — It  appears  from  the  enclosed  letters  of  F.  Baring 
and  Mr.  Merry  that  the  last  British  instalment  of  £200,000 
will  be  paid  in  London  on  15th  instant.  This  is  a  great  relief 
to  us,  and  still  more  to  the  banks,  as  the  exportation  of  that  sum 
in  specie  would  have  distressed  them  at  this  moment  beyond 
measure.  That  being  paid,  the  only  extraordinary  expense  to 
be  provided  for  is  the  3,750,000  dollars  claims  assumed  by  the 
convention  with  France,  payment  of  which  may  now  be  daily 
expected.  On  this  day,  after  having  paid  the  quarterly  interest 
on  the  public  debt,  we  have  more  than  4,200,000  dollars  left  in 
the  Treasury ;  so  that,  instead  of  paying  only  two  millions  of  those 
claims  from  the  Treasury  and  borrowing  the  rest  as  we  had  stated 
in  our  estimates  to  Congress,  we  will  be  able  to  pay  the  whole 
without  borrowing  anything. 

This  will,  if  the  bills  come  all  at  once  and  immediately,  drain 
the  Treasury  very  low.  But  as,  if  we  overcome  this  difficulty, 
there  is  no  probability,  unless  in  case  of  war,  that  during  your 
Administration  any  other  loan  shall  be  wanted,  it  was  an  object 
to  strain  every  nerve  to  meet  this  demand  without  recurring  to 
that  kind  of  resource.  Within  six  weeks  we  will  be  at  ease,  and 
may  then  resume  the  suspended  expenditures,  particularly  the  pay 
ments  on  account  of  the  sinking  fund,  which  are  much  in  arrears. 

I  submit  the  draft  of  an  answer  to  R.  Morris,  which  I  have 
purposely  made  less  explicit  than  your  opinion  seemed  to  pur 
port,  in  order  to  be  able  to  decide  according  to  the  circumstances 
of  the  case  when  they  shall  all  be  known. 

I  do  not  recollect  any  instance  of  a  suit  on  a  revenue  bond 
in  which  I  have  interfered.  The  district  attorneys  have  on  some 
occasions,  as  I  understand,  assumed  the  responsibility  of  giving 
some  indulgence. 


236  WETTINGS    OF    GALL  A  TIN.  1805. 

But  less  is  shown  in  that  species  of  suits  than  in  any  other, 
not  only  because  there  must  be  a  certainty  in  the  collection  of 
the  revenue,  but  because  the  law  directs  in  that  case  that  the 
bond  shall  be  put  in  suit  on  the  day  it  becomes  due  if  not  paid. 
This  subject,  as  to  details,  is  under  the  immediate  superintendence 
of  the  Comptroller,  as  he  has  the  direction  both  of  the  revenue 
and  of  all  the  suits  in  the  United  States,  and  if  Mr.  Sheaif  had 
made  an  application  to  me  I  should  have  refused  it  to  him. 

If  you  have  no  objection  to  his  letter  to  you  being  thus  placed 
on  the  public  files  of  that  office,  it  may  be  referred  in  that 
manner ;  but  if  you  have  any,  Mr.  SheafF  should  write  to  the 
Comptroller  or  to  me  and  obtain  from  the  district  attorney  a 
statement  of  the  case,  with  his  opinion  that  the  security  of  the 
United  States  will  not  be  injured  by  the  delay  which  may  be 
granted. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

WASHINGTON,  July  2,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  answer  to  Morris  is  perfectly  well,  as  it 
leaves  the  case  open  for  decision  as  the  fact  or  law  shall  be.  I 
have  dropped  a  line  to  Sheaff  to  address  either  yourself  or  the 
Comptroller  on  his  case.  The  prospect  of  avoiding  a  loan  is 
really  most  pleasing.  I  observe  Mr.  Livingston  is  arrived,  and 
the  newspapers  seem  to  suppose  the  call  for  the  French  money 
will  soon  take  place.  You  have  not  told  me  when  you  propose 
to  leave  this  place.  I  keep  back  my  letter  to  Mr.  Smith  till  you 
enable  me  to  fix  a  day  for  his  coming.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   SAMUEL   SMITH,  U.  S.  SEN. 

17th  July,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — It  is  impossible  for  me  to  calculate  the  effect  of 
the  measure  you  propose  on  our  finances.     I  am  very  confident, 


1805.  LETTERS,   ETC.  237 

however,  that  the  consumption  of  foreign  linens  would  be  dimin 
ished  if  the  importation  of  Irish  linens  was  forbidden;  and  the 
same  may  be  said,  though  the  effect  would  not  be  so  extensive, 
of  hats,  nails,  writing-paper,  glassware,  and  medicines. 

There  is  a  difficulty,  supposing  the  measure  to  be  proper,  in 
selecting  the  articles  on  which  the  prohibition  should  fall.  For 
the  less  of  an  English  article  we  consume,  the  less  will  the  pro 
hibition  affect  them ;  and  the  more  we  consume  of  it,  the  more 
will  the  prohibition  affect  our  own  finances. 

As  to  the  general  policy  of  the  measure,  it  is  not  a  question 
to  be  solved,  at  least  by  me,  without  more  information  and  con 
sideration,  nor  to  be  answered  in  a  short  letter.  An  objection 
which  on  first  impression  strikes  me,  is  that  the  total  prohibition  of 
English  manufactures  being  the  strongest  measure  of  retaliation 
which  we  can  adopt,  the  mere  extra  export  duty  is  not  perhaps 
sufficient  cause  to  call  forth  that  remedy.  It  might  perhaps  be 
better  to  reserve  it  as  an  arm  for  occasions  of  more  importance; 
and  it  may  be  queried  whether  the  enforcement  of  the  Naviga 
tion  Act  in  Europe,  and  of  the  colonial  system  in  the  West 
Indies,  though  more  susceptible  of  justification  than  the  differ 
ence  made  against  us  by  the  export  duty,  be  not  substantially 
much  more  injurious  to  the  United  States. 

Have  you  consulted  Mr.  Madison  on  the  subject?  I  have 
not  sufficiently  thought  upon  it  to  form  an  opinion  satisfactory 

to  myself. 

Your  friend  and  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  6th  August,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — It  cannot  be  expected  that  the  banks  will  make 
a  loan  to  La  Fayette ;  they  never  lend  on  real  property ;  of  the 
value  of  the  Louisiana  lands  no  person  can  at  present  give 
them  sufficient  assurances,  and  their  answer  will  be  that  they 
are  ready  to  make  the  requested  advance  on  La  Fayette's  notes 
with  two  approved  endorsers.  I  will  confer  with  Toussard  on 


238  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

his  arrival,  and  give  every  assistance  in  my  power ;  but  every 
thing  depends  on  some  fortunate,  extraordinary  location;  for 
no  lands,  however  fertile,  will,  merely  as  objects  of  common 
cultivation,  realize  his  expectations. 

The  demands  from  Spain  were  too  hard  to  have  expected, 
even  independent  of  French  interference,  any  success  from  the 
negotiation.  It  could  only  be  hoped  that  the  tone  assumed  by 
our  negotiators  might  not  be  such  as  to  render  a  relinquishment 
or  suspension  of  some  of  our  claims  productive  of  some  loss  of 
reputation.  If  we  are  safe  on  that  ground,  it  may  be  eligible 
to  wait  for  a  better  opportunity  before  we  again  run  the  risk 
of  lowering  the  national  importance  by  pretensions  which  our 
strength  may  not  at  this  moment  permit  us  to  support.  If 
from  the  manner  in  which  the  negotiation  has  been  conducted, 
and  has  terminated,  that  effect  has  already  been  produced,  how 
to  save  character  without  endangering  peace  will  be  a  serious 
and  difficult  question.  Perhaps  a  law  making  efficient  pro 
vision  for  building  a  dozen  of  ships  of  the  line  would  be  the 
most  dignified  and  most  forcible  mode  of  reopening  the  nego 
tiation  ;  but  it  will  be  a  doubt  with  some  whether  the  remedy 
be  not  worse  than  the  disorder.  At  all  events,  to  go  to  war 
for  the  western  boundary  of  Louisiana,  or  even  for  the  country 
between  Mississippi  and  Perdido,  after  having  omitted  in  our 
treaty  of  purchase  to  bind  France  to  a  certain  construction 
of  limits,  never  will  do.  The  refusal  to  ratify  the  convention 
is,  in  my  view  of  the  subject,  the  most  offensive  part  of  the 
proceeding. 

Mr.  Randolph  and  Mr.  Nicholson  are  both  anxious  to  know 
with  precision  the  time  when  Mr.  Monroe  may  be  expected  in 
England,  as  they  have  both  placed  business  of  importance  in 
his  hands.  I  will  thank  you  to  communicate  your  knowledge 
or  conjectures  on  that  point. 

Mrs.  Gallatin  joins  in  affectionate  compliments  to  you  and 
to  Mrs.  Madison,  and  sincerely  hopes  that  she  will  receive 
prompt  and  efficient  relief  in  Philadelphia.  If  she  is  better, 
you  should  come  and  pay  a  visit  to  the  American  Tyre,  which 
you  would  hardly  recognize. 

Yours  truly. 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  239 

I  find  that  Lear  has  drawn  £5000  on  the  Barings,  on  the 
contingent  credit  of  100,000  dollars  which  had  been  given  for 
the  ransom  in  case  of  peace.  Do  you  know  for  what  reason  ? 
and  was  it  not  wrong  to  diminish  that  fund,  or  rather  to  divert 
it  from  its  intended  object  ? 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  7,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — You  have  probably  learnt  through  other  chan 
nels  that  our  Commissioners  to  Spain  have  terminated  their 
mission  without  success  in  a  single  point.  I  have  desired  Mr. 
Madison  to  send  you  the  papers,  and  when  you  shall  have 
perused  them  I  will  ask  a  communication  of  your  general  view 
of  what  is  expedient  for  us  to  do.  I  ask  the  same  of  the  other 
gentlemen.  When  I  shall  have  received  them  it  will  enable  me 
to  form  precise  points  on  which  to  ask  their  ultimate  judgment. 
This  will  employ  some  time;  but  the  case  is  serious,  and  is 
entitled  to  time  and  mature  consideration. 

Tremble  declines  the  office  of  commissioner  in  the  western 
district  of  Orleans.  I  have  not  a  single  person  in  view  for  it : 
can  you  furnish  one?  Gideon  Fitz,  one  of  Briggs's  deputy 
surveyors,  is  gone  to  Tombigbee  to  survey ;  no  honester  man 
lives.  I  know  him  intimately,  and  should  not  fear  to  trust  him 
with  my  whole  fortune  uncounted.  His  mathematical  talents 
are  good ;  and,  though  this  has  been  his  particular  line,  his  un 
derstanding  and  knowledge  of  life  fit  him  for  other  lines.  He 
will  make  a  good  receiver  at  Tombigbee  when  you  want  one, 
and  I  think  it  probable  he  might  accept  it.  If  you  know  of 
no  better,  it  might  be  best  to  appoint  him  at  once,  that,  if  he 
refuses,  we  may  still  have  time  to  name  another.  Accept  affec 
tionate  salutations. 

P.S. — It  seems  essential  to  our  success  with  England  that  we 
should  not  be  understood  as  absolutely  committed  to  war  with 
Spain. 


240  WEITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 


YORK,  17th  August,  1805. 
DEAR  SIR,  —  An  excursion  into  the  country  with  a  sick  child 
has  prevented  my  writing  for  several  days. 

But  I  had  indeed  very  little  to  say.     Enclosed  you  will  find  : 

1.  John  Nicholas's  letter   recommending   Samuel    Latta  as 
collector  of  customs  for  the  district  of  Genesee.     The  sooner  a 
commission  can  issue,  [the  better,]  as  the  Canadians  smuggle;  it 
has  been  delayed  only  from  want  of  information. 

2.  Judge   Toulmin's   letter  on  the   subject  of  the  office  of 
receiver  of  public  moneys.     I  do  not  know  to  what  he  alludes; 
some  mistake,  I  suppose,  of  printer  Smith.    A  commission  either 
for  him  or  for  Gideon  Fitz  should  be  issued  this  fall. 

3.  A  letter  from  Holmes,  who  is  already  appointed  to  the 
office  for  which  he  applies. 

4.  Several  letters  in  favor  of  John  Kittredge  as  collector  of 
Gloucester  vice  Gibault,  who  is  dying,  but  not  to  my  knowl 
edge  yet  dead. 

I  received  yesterday  your  letters  of  7th  and  9th  insts. 

"What  to  say  about  a  commissioner  vice  Tremble  I  do  not 
know,  as,  he  having  accepted,  all  the  other  applications  and 
recommendations  have  been  left  in  Washington.  If  I  can 
recollect  or  find  somebody,  I  will  write  you  immediately. 

On  the  Spanish  aifairs  I  will,  in  conformity  with  your  re 
quest,  try  to  throw  my  ideas  on  paper.  Generally,  I  think  the 
present  time  unfavorable  either  for  urging  our  claims  by  further 
negotiations  or  for  enforcing  them  by  war.  The  great  difficulty 
is  how  to  keep  them  suspended  without  abandoning  the  ground 
assumed  or  loss  of  reputation.  Yet  that  may  not  be  impos 
sible;  but  a  little  delay  will  do  no  injury,  and  if  any  positive 
instructions  could  be  delayed  till  October,  it  would,  I  think, 
be  preferable. 

With  great  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


1805.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  241 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFEKSON. 


YORK,  12th  September,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  enclose  at  last  some  observations  on  the  Spanish 
affairs.  The  anxiety  and  occasional  absence  occasioned  by  the 
lingering  illness  of  a  child  I  finally  lost  had  prevented  my  taking 
a  sufficiently  comprehensive  view  of  the  subject  to  commit  any 
thing  to  writing,  and  even  now  I  feel  that  it  is  very  defective. 
Accept  my  congratulations  on  the  Tripolan  peace,  and  my  wishes 
that  you  may  terminate  as  favorably  the  Spanish  differences. 

With  sincere  attachment  and  great  respect,  your  obedient 
servant. 

[Enclosure.] 

SPANISH   AFFAIKS. 

12th  September,  1805. 
Subjects  of  difference  : 

1.  Boundaries  of  Louisiana,  East  and  West. 

2.  Spoliations,  refusal  to  ratify  convention,  and  French  Spanish 
captures. 

Modes  of  acting  : 

1.  War.  2.  Active  negotiations.  3.  Suspension  of  discus 
sions. 

War.  —  1.  Its  justice  as  it  relates  to  boundaries. 

The  claim  of  the  United  States  is  not  evident,  but  is  derived 
for  the  east,  by  construction,  from  the  Treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso, 
and  rests  for  the  west  on  the  accidental  landing  of  La  Salle  at 
St.  Bernard,  and  on  the  French  establishment  of  the  Mississippi 
being  prior  to  those  of  Spain  east  of  Rio  Norte.  It  is  not  pre 
sumed  that  the  last  object  (the  west  boundary)  shall  by  any  one 
be  considered  as  a  just  subject  of  war.  To  me  the  claim  has 
always  appeared  doubtful.  The  doctrine  of  European  rights  to 
uncivilized  countries  as  derived  from  discovery  and  possession 
is  not  reducible  and  never  has  been  reduced  to  fixed  rules.  The 
positive  right  of  discovery  extends  in  this  case  only  to  the  Mis 
sissippi  ;  that  of  occupancy,  beyond  what  is  actually  possessed 
by  us  on  the  sea-shore  west  of  that  river,  is  confined  to  the 
accidental  and  transient  settlement  of  La  Salle.  Crozat's  charter, 

VOL.  I.  —  17 


242  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

being  a  public  act  acquiesced  in  by  the  silence  of  Spain,  gives 
the  most  valid  title,  but  embraces  only  the  waters  emptying  into 
the  Mississippi.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Adayes  and  Nacogdoehes 
settlement,  whatever  was  its  origin  (and  Spain  may  assert  that  it 
was  as  legal  as  that  of  La  Salle),  was  formed  before  the  short 
war  between  the  Quadruple  Alliance  and  Spain  (the  Regent  and 
Alberoni).  During  that  war  Pensacola  was  three  times  taken 
and  retaken.  At  the  peace  it  was  restored,  and  Perdido  fixed  as 
the  boundary  of  Florida  and  Louisiana.  But,  although  it  does 
not  appear  that  the  western  boundary  was  then  fixed,  the  Adayes 
settlement  was  suffered  to  remain.  That  acquiescence  on  the  part 
of  France,  confirmed  by  her  subsequent  silence  and  by  the  un 
disturbed  possession  and  exercise  of  the  rights  of  sovereignty  of 
Spain  during  more  than  forty  years  (1718-1762),  throws  such 
uncertainty  on  our  claims,  that  a  resort  to  arms  for  that  cause 
will,  I  think,  appear  unjustifiable  in  the  opinion  of  mankind  and 
even  of  America.  That  we  have  still  an  undefined  claim  is 
true ;  this  may,  when  a  proper  opportunity  shall  offer,  be  used 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  a  convenient  eastern  boundary ;  for 
it  will  certainly  be  the  interest  of  unbiassed  Spain  to  obtain  from 
us  a  relinquishment  to  the  country  bordering  on  the  Mexico 
settlements ;  but  if  no  arrangement  should  take  place  on  that 
subject  during  the  present  generation,  the  natural  growth  of  the 
United  States  will  hereafter  naturally  enforce  the  claim  to  its 
full  extent. 

The  claim  of  the  United  States  on  the  east  as  far  as  Perdido  is 
much  better  founded. 

The  word  "retrocede"  is  the  only  expression  in  the  Treaty 
of  St.  Ildefonso  which  countenances  the  construction  of  Spain. 
She  insists  that  that  expression  confines  her  cession  to  so  much 
only  as  she  had  received  from  France.  But  every  other  expres 
sion  and  sentence  of  the  treaty  supports  the  construction  of  the 
United  States.  Yet  it  must  again  be  repeated  that  the  claim  is 
not  self-evident,  but  constructive ;  and  the  following  considera 
tions  seem  to  render  the  justice  of  a  war  in  its  support  extremely 
doubtful :  1st.  Whether  ascribed  to  policy,  or  to  precipitancy, 
or  to  any  other  cause,  it  is  not  less  the  fact  that  the  acquisition 
of  Louisiana  without  any  fixed  boundaries  was  the  act  of  the 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  243 

United  States;  for  the  act  of  their  negotiators  is  theirs;  if  they 
intended   at   all   events  to  obtain  the  now  disputed  territory 
between   Mississippi  and   Perdido,  if  they  then  attached  such 
value  to  it  as  to  risk  a  war  for  securing  it,  they  would  not  have 
signed  the  treaty  without  placing  the  subject  beyond  the  possi 
bility  of  dispute.     The  manner  in  which  the  treaty  is  drawn 
betrays  either  unpardonable  oversight  or  indifference  to  that  ob 
ject,  and  a  disposition  to  trust  to  a  mere  contingency  for  securing 
it.     2dly.  Not  only  we  neglected,  when  the  treaty  was  made, 
to  obtain  from  France,  if  not  a  guarantee,  at  least  an  official 
declaration  of  what  she  considered  as  the  boundary  of  the  terri 
tory  ceded  to  her  by  the  Treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso,  but  Spain  was 
not  consulted  on  the  subject.     If,  therefore,  a  previous  explana 
tion  had  taken  place  between  Spain  and  France  on  that  subject, 
however  we  may  complain  of  the  duplicity  of  France  for  having 
withheld  such    communication,   Spain  may  justly  oppose  it  to 
our  demands.     If  A  purchases  from  B  a  tract  of  land,  and  the 
boundaries  are  not  precisely  defined  by  the  deed ;  if  by  subsequent 
articles  the  parties  explain  the  meaning  of  the  deed ;  if  neither 
the  deed  nor  articles  have  been  made  matter  of  public  record ; 
and  if  afterwards  C  shall  purchase  from  A  on  the  face  of  the 
first  deed,  and,  notwithstanding  its  want  of  precision,  shall  neither 
ask  from  A  a  guarantee  or  even  explanation  of  the  boundaries, 
nor  inquire  from  B  what  he  had  intended  to  convey ;  it  is  true 
that  he  may  have  recourse  against  A  for  the  deception  in  not 
showing  the  articles,  but  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  the  disputed 
land  can  be  recovered  from  B,  who  has  in  the  mean  while  never 
given  possession,  and  who  had  even,  before  C's  purchase  was 
ratified,  warned  him  not  to  purchase.    3dly.  We  cannot  deny  that 
we  had  before  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  a  knowledge  of  the 
intention  of  the  parties  to  the  Treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso,  so  far 
as  related  to  the  eastern  boundaries.     For  we  knew  that  Laussat 
was  instructed  to  demand  and  the  Spanish  officers  to  deliver, 
east  of  the  Mississippi,  that  part  only  which  is  in  our  possession. 
As  it  relates  to  the  spoliations. — This  appears  a  more  just  cause 
of  war ;  and  if  the  original  offence  was  of  a  recent  date,  if  the 
refusal  to  restrain  or  compensate  for  the  aggressions  had  been 
made  whilst  they  continued  to  exist,  the  question  would  certainly 


244  'WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

become  one  of  policy  alone.  The  conduct  of  Spain  was  not, 
however,  at  the  time  considered  as  a  cause  of  war ;  and  it  may 
be  said  at  this  moment  that,  in  the  relation  in  which  she  then 
stood  towards  France,  of  alliance  against  an  enemy,  and  of  vas 
salage  to  that  great  power,  her  conduct  was  a  natural  consequence 
of  our  hostilities  with  that  nation.  It  is  certain  that  when  we 
were  negotiating  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  reparation  for  our 
merchants,  we  had  no  idea  of  going  to  war  in  case  of  failure.  It 
is  her  refusal  to  ratify  what  by  the  convention  itself  she  had 
acknowledged  as  justly  due  to  us  which  is  the  cause  of  offence. 
And  supposing  that  the  other  objections  of  Spain  have  been 
removed,  the  only  ground  of  dispute  on  this  point  is  the  modi 
fication  which  they  ask,  and  which,  although  they  have  no  right 
to  demand  it,  amounts  only  to  expressions  which,  without  impair 
ing  the  reserved  rights  of  either  party,  shall  only  prevent  a  con 
structive  admission  of  our  right  by  Spain  to  be  inferred  from 
the  instrument.  The  only  words  to  which  Spain  objects  are 
those  which  seem,  by  construction,  to  convey  an  idea  that  she 
recognizes  in  the  abstract  the  justice  of  our  claim  for  French 
aggressions  originating  or  countenanced  in  her  ports.  Is  the 
preservation  of  those  equivocal  words  which  give  us  very  little 
more  than  a  mere  general  reservation  of  the  rights  of  the  parties 
a  just  cause  of  war? 

That,  in  case  of  rupture  on  the  grounds  on  which  we  stand, 
plausible  and  in  some  respects  solid  arguments  may  be  urged  in 
answer  to  the  preceding  remarks  I  have  no  doubt ;  but  from  the 
nature  of  the  subject,  they  will  be  so  refined  that  they  cannot 
carry  that  conviction  of  the  justice  of  our  cause  which  is  neces 
sary  to  justify  a  war  in  the  public  opinion  and  to  our  own 
hearts.  The  high  station  which  America  and,  I  flatter  myself, 
Mr.  JVs  administration  now  occupy  in  the  eyes  of  other  nations, 
is  principally  due  to  the  opinion  which  is  entertained  of  their 
wisdom,  justice,  and  moderation ;  and  I  think  it  (exclusively 
of  every  reason  derived  from  duty)  of  primary  importance  that 
nothing  should  be  done  to  weaken  those  favorable  impressions ; 
and  that  if  war  must  be  ultimately  resorted  to,  we  should  pre 
viously  place  the  controversy  on  such  ground  as  will  evidently 
put  Spain  in  the  wrong. 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  245 

2.  Its  policy. 

Whether  the  issue  of  a  war  be  favorable  or  not,  some  un 
avoidable  consequences  must  ensue.  1st.  We  will  be  shut  up 
from  our  commercial  intercourse  with  Italy,  Spain,  France,  and 
Holland.  2dly.  Our  remaining  commerce,  particularly  with 
the  West  and  East  Indies,  will,  to  a  certain  extent,  be  injured. 
3dly.  Our  existing  revenue  will  be  diminished.  It  is  not 
possible  to  form  any  precise  calculation  or  even  probable  esti 
mate  of  the  degree  to  which  we  will  be  injured  in  those  several 
respects;  but  it  would  be  a  much  more  favorable  conjecture 
than  comports  with  my  view  of  the  subject  to  suppose  that 
the  unavoidable  effect  of  even  a  successful  war  on  our  revenue 
would  be  to  reduce  it  to  a  level  with  our  current  peace  expendi 
ture  (sinking  fund,  8  millions;  war,  navy,  foreign  intercourse, 
civil  list,  and  miscellaneous  demands,  2J  to  3  millions ;  in  all, 
11  millions),  and  that  all  the  expenses  of  the  war  must  be  sup 
ported  by  loans  or  new  taxes.  The  extent  of  those  would  de 
pend  on  that  of  our  operations ;  their  nature  would  be  a  matter 
of  subsequent  consideration.  I  will  only  name  the  principal 
resources  in  the  order  in  which  they  would  probably  be  resorted 
to.  Increase  of  impost ;  sales  of  lands  on  cheaper  terms  by 
wholesale ;  stamps ;  direct  tax ;  taxes  on  manufactures.  Our 
expected  gain  by  the  war  (I  do  not  speak  of  the  injury  done  to 
the  enemy)  would  be  the  improbable  ratification  of  the  conven 
tion  ;  a  probable  establishment  of  boundaries  eastwardly  to  Per- 
dido,  westwardly  on  just  terms;  and  perhaps  the  acquisition  of 
Florida.  We  would  at  any  time,  even  after  a  successful  cam 
paign,  accept  of  the  terms  proposed  by  Mr.  Monroe,  viz.,  estab 
lish  the  boundaries  of  Louisiana  and  take  Florida  in  exchange 
of  the  convention.  What  are  both  Floridas  worth  ?  For  this 
is  exactly  what  we  may  gain.  What  were  we  willing  to  give 
for  them  ?  and  what  would  be  the  cost  of  one  year's  war  ? — not 
merely  the  positive  expense,  but  the  national  loss  ? 

(Here  let  it  be  observed  that  in  case  of  rupture,  it  is  to  be  ex 
pected  that  France  and  Spain  will  seize  or  sequester  property  to 
an  immense  amount.  Amsterdam,  Antwerp,  and  even  Bordeaux, 
Cadiz,  and  Leghorn,  are  filled  with  our  merchants'  property,  ex 
clusively  of  vessels  which  might  be  there  at  the  time.  With 


246  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

all  those  nations  the  American  commerce  is  now  carried  on  with 
American  capital,  and  the  exchange  5  to  10  per  cent,  in  our 
favor.) 

I  think  that  every  view  of  the  subject  will  enforce  a  convic 
tion  that  a  war,  even  more  successful  than  our  resources  render 
it  probable,  would,  as  a  matter  of  calculation,  be  most  unprofit 
able  ;  and  that  the  only  ground  on  which  it  can  be  defended  is 
the  necessity  of  asserting  our  rights  from  a  fear  that  passive  en 
durance  will  provoke  a  succession  of  injuries.  That  there  is  a 
point  where  forbearance  must  cease  cannot  be  doubted ;  whether 
we  have  reached  that  point  in  relation  to  Spain  I  doubt ;  and 
it  may  be  questioned  whether,  both  as  a  real  injury  and  as  a 
point  affecting  the  national  dignity,  the  annual  blockade  of  our 
ports  and  the  perpetual  impressment  of  our  seamen  be  not  more 
essential  wrongs  than  any  we  have  suffered  from  Spain.  But 
what  will  be  the  probable  result  of  a  war,  and  how  shall  we 
carry  it  on  ?  I  believe  that  we  may,  with  our  existing  military 
resources,  or  at  least  with  little  addition,  take  possession  of  both 
Floridas,  perhaps  reach  through  the  wilderness  the  miserable 
establishments  of  Santa  Fe  and  San  Antonio,  and  alarm  the 
outposts  of  Mexico.  But  it  does  not  appear  to  me  that  we  can 
go  beyond  that  without  a  waste  of  treasure  and  of  men  which 
we  cannot  supply.  The  taking  of  Havana,  the  most  decisive 
stroke  for  forcing  a  peace,  would  require  some  naval  co-opera 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  British,  an  army  of  fifteen  or  twenty  thou 
sand  men,  six  months'  siege,  and  from  ten  to  twenty  millions  of 
dollars.  Vera  Cruz  might  perhaps  cost  less,  but  would  be  less 
important.  If  we  were  not  able  to  take  either,  peace  must  de 
pend  less  on  our  exertions  than  on  the  course  which  the  French 
government  may  pursue.  If  Bonaparte,  haughty  and  obstinate 
as  he  is,  shall  think  proper  to  persevere,  notwithstanding  our 
taking  Florida,  then  our  fate  becomes  linked  to  that  of  Eng 
land,  and  the  conditions  of  our  peace  will  depend  on  the  gen 
eral  result  of  the  European  war.  And  this  is  one  of  the  worst 
evils  which  the  United  States  could  encounter;  for  an  en 
tangling  alliance,  undefined  debts  and  taxes,  and  in  fine  a  sub 
version  of  all  our  hopes,  must  be  the  natural  consequence. 

Negotiations. —  Three  advantages  may  result  from  a  renewal  of 


1805.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  247 

negotiations  in  some  shape  or  another :  1st.  The  hope  of  a  per 
manent  and  complete,  or  at  least  temporary  and  partial  arrange 
ment,  in  which  last  case  war  will  be  at  least  prevented.  2dly. 
Such  modification  of  our  demands  as  will,  in  case  of  refusal, 
place  the  justice  of  our  cause  on  evident  ground.  3dly.  Some 
time  gained  which  may  enable  us  to  be  somewhat  better  prepared 
for  the  conflict.  By  active  negotiations,  I  meant  such  as  would 
have  for  object  a  complete  arrangement  of  every  existing  dif 
ference;  by  suspension  of  discussion,  I  contemplated  some  tem 
porary  agreement  which,  without  affecting  the  question,  might 
save  the  rights  and  the  credit  of  both  nations,  leaving  the  final 
result  to  future  contingencies.  In  whatever  shape  these  negoti 
ations  may  be  carried  on,  they  will  still  relate  either  to  the  bound 
aries  or  to  the  convention ;  to  which  I  would  add  the  subject  of 
new  and  existing  aggressions,  especially  from  Cuba. 

1st.  Boundaries. — The  present  moment  does  not  appear  favor 
able  for  pressing  a  renewal  of  negotiations  for  a  final  arrange 
ment  on  that  subject.  Unless  a  very  unexpected  revolution 
should  take  place  in  the  political  situation  of  Spain,  it  seems 
that  such  arrangement  must  depend  on  France,  and  that  it  is 
with  her  that  we  ought  to  negotiate.  But  there  is  so  little  hope 
of  success  with  either,  that  the  attempt  would  only,  in  all 
probability,  aggravate  the  evil  we  mean  to  parry.  Yet,  as  it 
is  impossible  to  foresee  the  fluctuations  which  may  take  place 
in  the  councils  of  both  nations  and  the  events  which  may  offer  a 
favorable  opportunity,  it  would  be  prudent  to  vest  our  ministers 
at  Paris  and  Madrid  with  such  powers  as  may  enable  them,  not 
to  urge  a  negotiation,  but  to  be  ready  to  enter  into  one  if  it  shall 
be  offered;  and  for  that  purpose  an  ultimatum  may  be  prepared 
and  sent  to  them.  The  terms  may  be  the  subject  of  further 
consideration ;  and  I  will  only  say  that  I  would  think  it  for  the 
interest  of  the  United  States,  and  no  improper  relinqui.shment  of 
their  rights,  to  take  the  Sabine  and  Perdido  for  boundaries  on  the 
sea-shore,  including  always  within  Louisiana  all  the  waters  of  the 
Mississippi.  In  the  mean  while  two  propositions  may  be  made 
for  a  temporary  arrangement,  which  had  been  already  suggested 
to  our  ministers,  but  do  not  seem  to  have  been  mentioned  by 
them,  viz.,  a  statu  quo,  and  the  free  navigation  of  the  Mobile. 


248  WKITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

Statu  quo. — Although  this  seems  to  be  a  simple  and  reasonable 
demand  in  the  abstract,  its  application  presents  some  difficulties. 
1st,  If  Spain  be  sensible  that  she  can  strengthen  her  positions 
only  by  increase  of  military  force,  whilst  we  strengthen  ourselves 
by  forming  new  settlements,  she  may  object  to  a  plan  which 
would  preclude  only  her  progress  and  would  not  affect  us.  2dly. 
If  the  arrangement  should  be  proposed  for  the  disputed  territory 
only;  as  the  whole  is  in  the  possession  of  Spain,  and  as  we  might 
in  the  mean  while  increase  our  force  at  New  Orleans  and  in  the 
now  disputed  part  of  Louisiana  west  of  the  Mississippi,  whilst 
she  should  be  precluded  from  adding  to  her  posts  from  Perdido 
to  the  Mississippi  and  to  those  of  Nacogdoches  and  San  Antonio; 
the  conditions  would  be  substantially  unequal,  since  we  would 
then  be  enabled  at  any  time  to  take  possession  of  the  whole  at 
a  single  stroke.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  we  could  not  agree 
generally  not  to  increase  our  force  at  New  Orleans,  &c.,  nor 
Spain  to  a  similar  condition  for  Havana,  Pensacola,  &c. ;  so 
that  there  is  an  equal  difficulty  in  forming  an  arrangement  which 
will  preclude  either  party  from  reinforcing  its  existing  posts, 
whether  that  arrangement  be  confined  to  the  disputed  territory 
or  embrace  the  adjacent  establishments.  The  only  proposition 
which  appears  practicable  is  that  neither  party  should  form  any 
new  military  post  in  advance  of  what  they  have,  nor  particularly 
between  Natchitoches  and  San  Antonio,  leaving  both  at  liberty 
to  reinforce  all  existing  military  posts.  If  Spain  shall  insist 
that  not  only  new  military  posts  but  also  new  settlements  be 
precluded,  the  precise  lines  must  be  defined,  and  so  save  the 
pride  of  Spain,  by  abandoning  our  right  to  settle  for  the  present 
some  part  of  what  she  acknowledges  to  be  ours;  the  river 
Merrnenteau  or  Calcasieu,  at  her  choice  (both  lie  a  little  east 
of  the  Sabine),  might  be  fixed  on  our  side,  and  the  Colorado 
on  hers  ;  but  it  would  be  preferable  to  say  nothing  about  settle 
ments,  for  it  must  be  recollected  that  the  offer  of  a  desert  for 
fifteen  years  was  intended,  in  case  the  western  boundary  could 
not  be  settled,  as  an  inducement  for  a  relinquishment  on  the 
part  of  Spain  of  her  claim  to  the  country  between  Perdido  and 
Mississippi.  For  us  the  condition  of  no  new  military  post  being 
erected  is  sufficient,  both  as  an  honorable  means  to  extricate 


1805.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  249 

ourselves  from  our  present  embarrassment  and  as  a  matter  of 
security;  for,  if  an  arrangement  is  made,  it  is  not  very  material 
that  Spain  should  increase  her  existing  posts,  nor  will  she  be  very 
able  now  to  do  it.  To  this  there  is  but  one  exception :  she  must 
not  if  possible  be  permitted  to  erect  new  posts  on  the  Mississippi, 
nor  to  strengthen  her  works  or  military  force  at  Baton  Rouge. 
Nor  would  it  be  necessary  to  consider  a  refusal  on  the  part  of 
Spain  to  accede  formally  to  the  statu  quo  as  a  cause  of  war.  For 
although,  if  she  shall  act  in  such  a  manner  in  every  respect  as 
to  force  a  war,  that  refusal  will  strengthen  the  justice  of  our 
cause;  yet,  if  other  matters  be  arranged,  it  might  be  sufficient  on 
that  subject  to  state  that  we  would  advance  in  case  they  should, 
leaving  to  Spain  the  odium  both  of  the  encroachment  and  of  the 
rupture,  if  she  should  think  proper  to  oppose  'by  force  such 
advance  on  our  part. 

Mobile. — Although  this  subject  may  be  mentioned,  I  would 
not  consider  it  as  an  ultimatum,  or  a  refusal  on  the  part  of  Spain 
as  cause  of  war:  1st,  because  its  importance  is  not  at  present 
sufficient  to  run  any  great  risk  on  that  account ;  2dly,  because  the 
right  is  not  by  the  law  of  nations  generally  acknowledged.  It 
is  undoubtedly  a  natural  right,  but  usage  and  treaties  have  modi 
fied  it  amongst  European  nations  in  so  many  different  ways,  that 
I  believe  there  is  not  a  single  similar  case  in  which  the  right 
when  used  does  not  rest  on  prescription  or  positive  treaty.  It 
will  also  be  well  to  consider  that  if  acceded  to  by  Spain,  she 
will  probably  claim  the  same  privilege  for  Baton  Rouge ;  and 
yet  the  cases  are  not  similar,  since  our  settlements  on  Mobile  lie 
within  our  boundaries  as  acknowledged  by  Spain,  and  Baton 
Rouge  is  within  the  disputed  territory. 

2d.  Convention. — This,  under  existing  circumstances,  seems  to 
be  the  most  delicate  part  of  the  business.  If  we  insist  on  it  and 
fail,  it  leads  to  a  war,  and  we  cannot  abandon  it  altogether  with 
out  some  disgrace,  blended  as  the  subject  is  with  the  other  nego 
tiation.  For  had  it  stood  alone,  our  delay  during  fifteen  months 
to  ratify  it,  by  showing  that  we  did  not  set  a  very  high  value  on 
it,  would  in  fact  have  served  as  an  apology  for  our  not  resenting 
the  refusal  of  Spain  to  ratify.  It  was  for  that  reason  that  I 
was  of  opinion  last  fall  that  it  was  better  to  lose  the  whole  in- 


250  TVKITINGS     OF     GALL  A  TIN.  1805. 

strument  than  to  accept  the  modification,  nominal  as  it  was, 
proposed  by  Spain.  But  now  that  the  question  presents  itself 
under  a  very  different  aspect,  it  seems  to  me  that  it  is  of  primary 
importance,  having  failed  in  the  other  objects,  to  obtain  the  rati 
fication  even  on  terms  somewhat  similar  to  those  proposed  by 
Spain.  What  I  would  then  suggest  is  that,  demanding  in  the 
first  place  a  pure  ratification,  should  no  other  objection  be  made  by 
Spain  than  that  of  its  containing  an  admission  (by  inference)  on 
her  part  of  our  right  to  compensation  for  French  spoliations, 
our  minister  should  accept  a  ratification  with  a  bien  entendu  or  a 
declaration  in  the  proces-verbal  of  the  exchange  of  ratifications, 
that  nothing  contained  in  the  instrument  shall  be  construed  as 
a  recognition  or  relinquishment  by  either  party  of  the  claims 
not  provided  for,  or  any  other  words  to  that  effect. 

3d.  New  aggressions. — These  are  to  a  great  extent,  and  afford 
a  just  ground  for  complaint.  I  am  told  that  the  rate  of  in 
surance,  which  is  but  3J  per  cent,  to  the  British  Windward 
Islands,  is  from  10  to  15  to  Jamaica,  and  that  almost  solely 
owing  to  the  French  and  Spanish  privateers  often  armed  in 
Cuba,  and  who  uniformly  take  their  prizes  there  and  plunder 
them.  It  might  not  be  advisable  under  other  circumstances  to 
take  any  other  measures  on  this  subject  than  we  do  in  relation 
to  the  aggressions  of  other  nations ;  but  it  may  be  proper,  par 
ticularly  if  the  refusal  of  Spain  to  give  us  any  kind  of  satis 
faction  on  the  other  subjects  shall  render  a  war  probable,  to 
press  the  subject  with  great  force  upon  them.  I  think  that  it 
will,  at  all  events,  have  a  good  effect  on  the  whole  negotiation, 
and  in  case  of  rupture  will  place  the  justice  of  our  cause  on 
the  best  possible  ground.  For  then,  supposing  the  other  ideas 
to  have  been,  under  proper  modifications,  adopted,  instead  of 
giving  for  principal  cause  of  the  war  a  dispute  for  boundaries 
on  which  opinions  would  be  divided,  and  which  might  lay  us 
under  an  imputation  of  ambition,  we  would  say :  the  boundaries 
of  Louisiana  were  not  fixed  ;  we  proposed  to  Spain  that  until 
they  were,  no  new  posts  should  be  established  by  either  party, 
and  Spain  will  not  agree  to  that  proposal ;  Spain  had  by  a  con 
vention  acknowledged  wrongs  formerly  done  by  her, and  promised 
compensation ;  she  afterwards  objected  to  the  ratification  under 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  251 

pretence  that  some  expressions  in  the  instrument  might  be  con 
strued  to  bind  her  beyond  her  intention ;  we  agreed  to  a  modi 
fication  in  the  form  of  ratification  which  would  remove  that 
objection,  and  she  refuses  to  ratify;  not  satisfied  with  former 
wrongs,  she  suffers  in  her  ports  the  most  flagrant  violation  of 
the  law  of  nations,  the  plunder  without  trial  and  condemnation 
of  our  vessels  employed  in  an  innocent  trade,  and  she  refuses 
redress.  Unless  Spain  is  predetermined  to  risk  a  war  in  order 
to  obtain  a  positive  relinquishment  of  our  claim  to  the  disputed 
territory,  it  appears  extremely  improbable  that  she  would  place 
herself  in  such  awkward  situation. 

Nothing  else  has  struck  me  on  the  subject  of  negotiations  ;  and 
I  would  only  add  that  if  it  shall  appear,  which  may  easily  be 
previously  ascertained  by  our  minister,  that  Spain  will  ratify 
the  convention  in  any  admissible  shape,  it  would  be  more 
eligible  to  urge  each  subject  by  itself,  and  as  entirely  uncon 
nected  with  each  other.  But  if  no  ratification  is  expected,  all 
three,  convention,  statu  quo,  and  new  aggressions,  should  be 
pressed  together  on  Spain. 

Preparations. — Some  time  will  be  gained  by  the  negotiation, 
which  if  it  produces  no  other  advantage  than  to  accumulate  two 
or  three  millions  of  dollars  in  our  Treasury,  exhausted  by  the 
payment  of  the  French  bills,  will  not  have  been  altogether  use 
less.  The  militia  and  military  preparations,  which  cost  little 
or  nothing,  and  which  might  be  necessary  to  take  possession  at 
once  of  both  Floridas  the  moment  a  rupture  should  take  place, 
might  also  be  made.  But  it  is  principally  on  Congress  that  the 
decision  of  those  points  and  of  all  other  preparations  will  rest; 
and  it  is  even  proper  to  recollect  that  as  the  power  of  making 
war  is  constitutionally  vested  in  that  body,  it  is  the  duty  of 
the  Executive  to  leave  it  so  substantially,  and  to  do  no  act 
which  may  put  the  peace  of  the  country  in  jeopardy.  This 
alone  should  induce  particular  moderation  in  the  manner  of 
negotiating;  and  such  course  being  adopted,  the  next  question 
will  be  whether  the  President  should  lay  the  subject  before  Con 
gress  at  their  next  session,  and  if  so,  in  what  shape?  As  it 
is  not  doubted,  however,  that  in  some  shape  or  another  the 
subject  will  be  communicated  to  the  Legislature,  it  will  be  suf- 


252  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

ficient  to  examine  what  preparatory  measures  can  be  taken  by 
that  body,  on  the  supposition  that  they  will  not  as  yet  vote  any 
additional  taxes,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  diminish,  as  had  been 
contemplated,  the  existing  revenue,  but  will  even  for  the  present, 
notwithstanding  the  Tripolan  peace,  continue  the  additional  duty 
of  2J  per  cent.,  which,  after  discharging  all  current  expendi 
tures  (including  the  8  millions  for  the  sinking  fund  and  600,000 
dollars  for  the  current  navy  expenses),  will  leave  a  probable 
annual  surplus  of  two  millions  of  dollars. 

It  is  probable  that  the  greater  part  of  that  surplus  will  be 
applied  to  the  formation  of  a  navy ;  and  if  Congress  shall  de 
cide  in  favor  of  that  measure,  I  would  suggest  that  the  mode 
best  calculated  in  my  opinion  to  effect  it,  and  so  impress  other 
nations  that  we  are  in  earnest  about  it,  would  be  a  distinct  act 
enacted  for  that  sole  purpose,  appropriating  for  a  fixed  number 
of  years  (or  for  as  many  years  as  would  be  sufficient  to  build  a 
determinate  number  of  ships  of  the  line)  a  fixed  sum  of  money, 
say  one  million  of  dollars  annually,  which  will  be  about  equal 
to  the  2J  per  cent,  duty  heretofore  appropriated  for  the  Tripolan 
war;  and  in  order  effectually  to  prevent  the  fund  being  diverted 
to  current,  contingent,  or  other  purposes,  to  place  it  under  the 
general  superintendence  of  commissioners,  in  the  same  manner 
as  the  sinking  fund,  but  leaving,  of  course,  the  immediate  ap 
plication  and  direction  under  that  superintendence  to  the  Navy 
Department.  The  money  to  be  exclusively  applied  to  the  build 
ing  of  ships  of  the  line ;  for  there  would  still  be  a  sufficient 
surplus  to  add  immediately  a  few  frigates  to  our  navy.  These 
last  might  be  built  by  contract  within  the  year;  what  progress 
might  be  made  within  the  same  time  with  the  ships  of  the  line 
I  cannot  say ;  but  that  it  would  lay  the  foundation  of  an  effi 
cient  navy  I  have  no  doubt ;  and  that  the  act  would  have  a 
favorable  effect  on  our  foreign  relations,  and  even  on  the  pend 
ing  negotiation,  is  also  certain.  Nor  indeed,  supposing  Congress 
to  be  at  all  events  averse  to  a  war  with  Spain  for  the  present, 
would  it  be  an  undignified  course  to  make  efficient  provision 
for  the  preparation  of  a  force  that  would  prevent  a  repetition  of 
wrongs  which  the  United  States  did  not  at  this  moment  feel 
prepared  properly  to  resent.  Whether  the  creation  of  an  effi- 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  253 

cient  navy  may  not,  by  encouraging  wars  and  drawing  us  in  the 
usual  vortex  of  expenses  and  foreign  relations,  be  the  cause  of 
greater  evils  than  those  it  is  intended  to  prevent,  is  not  the 
question  which  I  mean  to  discuss.  This  is  to  be  decided  by  the 
representatives  of  the  nation  ;  and  although  I  have  been  de 
sirous  that  the  measure  might  at  least  be  postponed,  yet  I  have 
had  no  doubt  for  a  long  time  that  the  United  States  would  ulti 
mately  have  a  navy.  It  is  certain  that  so  long  as  we  have  none, 
we  must  perpetually  be  liable  to  injuries  and  insults,  particularly 
from  the  belligerent  powers,  when  there  is  a  war  in  Europe ;  and 
in  deciding  for  or  against  the  measure,  Congress  will  fairly  de 
cide  the  question  whether  they  think  it  more  for  the  interest  of 
the  United  States  to  preserve  a  pacific  and  temporizing  system, 
and  to  tolerate  those  injuries  and  insults  to  a  great  extent,  than 
to  be  prepared,  like  the  great  European  nations,  to  repel  every 
injury  by  the  sword.  The  Executive  will,  from  their  decision, 
know  the  course  which  it  behoves  them  to  pursue  in  our  foreign 
relations  and  discussions. 

There  is  another  measure  which  might  be  adopted  by  Con 
gress,  if  they  were  determined  on  peace  for  the  present  at  all 
events.  It  would  be  the  appointment  of  commissioners  to  settle 
the  claims  for  Spanish  spoliations,  showing  thereby  that  though 
not  willing  to  enforce  at  this  time  that  just  demand,  they  were 
determined  not  to  abandon  it,  and  to  wait  a  favorable  oppor 
tunity  to  press  it.  It  is  on  a  somewhat  similar  principle  that 
the  British  government  has  lately  ordered  a  distribution  of 
the  Spanish  prize-money  taken  before  the  declaration  of  war 
amongst  a  certain  description  of  merchants  who  had  claims  for 
former  captures  and  contracts  against  Spain. 


I  have  but  one  subject  more  on  which  to  make  any  observa 
tions;  it  is  on  the  interference  of  a  war  with  our  revenue  system, 
and  on  the  great  advantage  of  a  perseverance  in  the  pacific  sys 
tem,  if  it  was  only  for  three  or  four  years  longer.  Our  existing 
revenue  has  been  calculated  to  meet  our  current  expenses.  Our 
neutrality  and  the  Tripolan  additional  duty  may  give  us  a  surplus 
of  about  two  millions,  which,  and  it  is  a  very  low  calculation,  I 


254  WETTINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

consider  as  lost  in  case  of  war.  These  two  millions  alone  applied 
to  the  building  of  a  navy  during  the  four  ensuing  years  would, 
with  what  we  have,  give  us  ten  or  twelve  ships  of  the  line  besides 
frigates,  a  force  nearly  equal  in  point  of  efficiency,  considering 
the  superiority  of  the  men,  to  the  Spanish  navy.  But  this  is  not 
the  most  important  consideration.  Eight  millions  of  our  reve 
nue  are  pledged  for  the  sinking  fund  until  the  redemption  of 
the  whole  debt,  with  a  proviso  (designedly  inserted  that  the  re 
sources  of  the  nation  might  not  be  palsied  beyond  a  certain 
period)  that  when  the  whole  debt,  the  old  six  per  cent,  deferred 
and  three  per  cent,  excepted,  shall  have  been  paid,  there  will  be 
no  necessity  to  apply  the  whole  sum  of  eight  millions  annually. 
There  now  remain  to  be  paid  (besides  the  six,  three,  and  deferred 
thus  excepted)  only  6J  millions  eight  per  cent,  and  about  4 
millions  foreign,  five  and  half,  and  navy  six  per  cent.  The 
redemption  of  those  ten  millions  and  half  will  be  effected  during 
the  ensuing  three  years.  And  from  the  year  1809  inclusively, 
we  shall  not  be  compelled  to  pay  any  more  annually  than  the 
interest  on  the  remaining  debt  and  annual  reimbursement  on  the 
six  per  cent,  and  deferred  stocks,  amounting  altogether  to  less  than 
4J  millions  of  dollars,  and  leaving,  therefore,  3J  millions  of  dol 
lars  annually,  which  may  be  applied  either  to  the  purchase  of 
the  debt  or  to  more  pressing  demands,  according  to  circumstances. 
If  the  savings  or  preparations  of  the  three  ensuing  years  be 
added  to  the  circumstance  of  having  at  once  three  millions  and 
half  of  dollars  annually  at  our  disposal  beyond  what  we  now  have, 
and  that  exclusively  of  our  intermediate  growth,  the  importance 
of  our  preserving  peace  during  those  three  years  will  be  easily 
understood. 

Respectfully  submitted. 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  255 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  13th.  September,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  a  letter  from  Mr.  Gurley  showing  the 
continued  dissatisfaction  or  efforts  to  produce  discontents  at  New 
Orleans. 

The  only  recommendation  I  can  find  here  for  commissioner 
is  the  one  enclosed,  and  it  is  for  Orleans  and  not  for  Opelousas. 
The  commissioners  must  meet  on  1st  December  next.  I  have 
not  heard  whether  Lewis  will  accept  for  Orleans.  The  yellow 
fever  is  in  New  York,  and  the  inhabitants  leaving  the  city. 

I  am  asked  every  day  whether  there  is  any  probability  of  a 
war  with  Spain.  The  inquiry  comes  from  merchants,  and  the 
insurers  hesitate  whether  to  insure. 

As  far  as  I  can  ascertain  from  our  friends,  a  war  would  be  un 
popular.  The  question  of  boundaries  is  considered  as  of  inferior 
importance  at  this  moment,  and  as  one  for  which  it  would  not 
be  worth  while  to  entangle  the  nation.  But  it  is  agreed  that  the 
refusal  to  ratify  the  convention  and  the  continued  spoliations  by 
Spain,  or  by  vessels  which  find  asylum  in  her  ports,  can  with 
difficulty  be  tolerated  without  some  loss  of  reputation  ;  yet,  after 
all,  they  say,  Keep  us  from  war,  and  depend  on  the  wisdom  of 
Administration  for  doing  it. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 
OBSERVATIONS  ON  FOREIGN  GOLD. 

Congress  omitted  last  year  to  renew  the  temporary  laws  by 
which  so  much  of  the  general  act  respecting  foreign  coins,  as 
declares  that  no  foreign  gold  or  silver  coin  (Spanish  dollars 
excepted)  shall  be  current  after  the  mint  shall  have  been  in 
operation  a  certain  time,  had  from  time  to  time  been  suspended. 
It  followed  that  foreign  gold  ceased  on  1st  May  last  to  be  a  legal 
tender.  At  that  time  nine-tenths  of  the  circulating  specie,  or  of 


256  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

that  in  the  vaults  of  the  several  banks,  consisted  of  such  gold. 
A  letter  was  written  to  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  recom 
mending  the  importation  of  dollars  from  Europe,  and  the  coining 
into  American  coins  the  foreign  gold  in  their  possession.  Their 
answer  is  enclosed,  and  it  must  be  observed  that  the  omission  of 
Congress,  which  was  accidental,  has  done  as  yet  no  injury;  for, 
as  there  was  no  other  specie,  every  one  by  tacit  consent  has 
received  and  paid  it  as  if  it  had  been  a  legal  tender. 

The  question  which  will  arise  on  that  subject  is,  Ought  Con 
gress  again  [to]  make  foreign  gold  a  legal  tender?  and  if  so, 
should  not  something  be  done  on  the  subject  of  Spanish  gold  ? 
To  the  first  question  I  have  no  hesitation  to  answer  in  the  affirm 
ative.  But  the  second  is  more  difficult  to  solve.  It  is  evident 
that  through  mistake  we  have  by  law  rated  Spanish  gold  coins 
above  their  value.  English  and  Portuguese  coins  are  of  the  same 
standard  with  our  own.  French  have  been  rated  properly,  or 
rather  a  little  too  low.  To  continue  to  receive  Spanish  coins 
above  their  value  is  to  persist  in  error.  To  declare  that  they 
shall  pass  hereafter  only  at  their  real  value  will  throw  a  loss  on 
the  holders  and  check  the  importation  of  that  kind  of  specie, 
which  in  the  course  of  trade  is  not  easily  obtained,  and  chiefly 
supplies  us.  To  reduce  our  standard  to  the  Spanish,  raising  of 
course  the  English,  and  Portuguese,  and  French  gold  coins  to 
what  would  become  their  real  value,  might  properly  be  considered 
as  an  alteration  of  our  coins. 


JEFFERSON    TO    GALLATIN. 

October  11,  1805. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

The  reasons  of  the  bank  against  importing  coin  seem  good 
under  their  views  of  the  subject,  which  perhaps  are  not  broad 
enough. 

I  think  Congress  should  renew  the  tender  of  foreign  coins ; 
but  whether  any  alteration  in  the  comparative  value  of  Spanish 
gold  should  be  made  admits  of  question.  I  imagine  Colonel 


1805.  LETTEES,    ETC.  257 

Hamilton  had  assays  made  wherein  he  founded  his  rates  of  for 
eign  coins.  Indeed,  I  think  I  recollect  his  having  stated  in  some 
of  his  reports  the  particulars  of  his  assays.  I  am  almost  certain 
Mr.  Rittenhouse  on  some  occasion  reported  assays  to  Congress ; 
their  result,  I  presume,  was  agreeable  to  what  the  law  established. 
The  assay  by  the  bank  on  two  single  pieces  is  on  much  too  small 
a  scale  to  shake  the  legal  establishment ;  they  should  be  made 
on  large  masses,  and  by  persons  known  to  us.  If  the  assay 
of  the  bank  be  sufficient  to  excite  any  suspicion,  it  would  be 
better  to  instruct  Mr.  Patterson  to  have  a  sufficient  assay  made 
on  a  mass  of  Spanish  gold,  and  to  report  on  the  subject.  If 
there  be  not  considerable  error  in  the  present  rate,  I  should  be 
against  touching  it.  The  merchants  will  soon  learn  to  correct 
small  errors  in  what  they  receive  in  foreign  countries,  and  for 
interior  circulation  a  small  error  is  unimportant;  it  is  like  the 
case  of  worn  silver  or  gold.  Affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

October  23,  1805. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  send  for  your  perusal  another  letter  of  Mr.  Madison,  which 
I  will  ask  the  favor  of  you  to  return  immediately  with  the  one 
sent  on  Saturday,  and  on  which  it  is  necessary  to  act. 

The  war  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  appears  now  so  certain, 
and  that  peace  is  at  least  one  year  off,  that  we  are  now  placed 
at  our  ease  in  point  of  time.  We  may  make  another  effort  for 
a  peaceable  accommodation  with  Spain  without  the  danger  of 
being  left  alone  to  cope  with  both  France  and  Spain  ;  and  even 
if  we  are  driven  to  war,  it  is  now  much  more  questionable  than 
it  was  whether  we  had  not  better  enter  into  it  without  fettering 
ourselves  with  an  alliance,  that  we  may  be  free  to  retire  when 
ever  our  terms  can  be  obtained.  Peace  cannot  now  be  made  in 
Europe  but  by  a  general  convention,  and  that  will  take  best 
part  of  a  twelvemonth  to  arrange.  Our  question  now  is  in 
what  way  to  give  Spain  another  opportunity  of  arrangement? 
VOL.  i.— 18 


258  WETTINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

Is  not  Paris  the  place?     France  the  agent?     The  purchase  of 
the  Floridas  the  means  ?     Affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON  TO  GALLATIN. 

November  3,  1805. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  wish  for  an  d,  pen  pres  of  the  number  of  seamen  we  call 
ours.  I  suppose  the  best  way  of  estimating  will  be  by  our  ton 
nage,  including  coasters,  bay  and  river  craft,  and  everything 
employed  on  the  tide-waters.  Can  you  assist  me  with  the  ma 
terials  for  such  an  estimate?  It  is  of  some  importance  for  my 
bill  for  a  naval  militia ;  that  and  the  one  for  the  land  militia  I 
will  send  you  for  consideration  as  soon  as  you  can  assist  me  as 
above. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  5th  November,  1805. 
DEAK  SIR, — Annexed  is  a  sketch  of  the  receipts  and  ex 
penditures  for  the  year  ending  30th  September  last.  It  cannot 
be  perfectly  correct,  and  several  alterations  will  certainly  be 
made  on  the  official  examination  of  the  accounts.  But  the 
variations  will  not  be  such  as  to  affect  any  general  result.  The 
most  imperfect  part  is  the  estimate  of  that  part  of  the  customs 
which  arise  from  the  Mediterranean  fund,  and  which  we  do  not 
consider  as  part  of  the  permanent  revenue. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

Note. — We  have  actually  paid  this  year  about  six  millions  of 
the  principal  of  the  debt  contracted  before  your  Administration, 
viz.: 

Domestic  and  foreign  debt,  as  per  note/,  $4,200,000 

British  convention,  being  in  exchange  of  the  6th 

Article  of  Jay's  treaty,  1,776,000 

Payment  for  lands  in  stock,  as  per  note  6,  45,000 

$6,021,000 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  259 

A  Sketch  of  the  Receipts  and  Expenditures  of  the  United  States 
for  the  year  ending  30th  September,  1805. 

Receipts,  viz.: 

Customs  (a),  112,773,045.56 

Sales  of  lands  (ft),  621,895.08 

Postage,  28,500.00 

Arrears  of  direct  tax  and  internal  duties,  61,087.80 

Incidental  (c),  14,718.63 

Repayments  (principally  for  bills  of  exchange 

protested),  157,506.89 

$13,656,753.96 
Cash  in  Treasury  30th  September,  1804,  4,882,351.35 

$18,539,105.31 


Expenditures,  viz.: 

Civil  list,  $615,652.26 

Miscellaneous  (d),  545,091.91 

Diplomatic  and  Barbary,  258,017.74 

British  convention  (the  two  last  instalments),  1,776,000.00 

Purchase  of  Louisiana  (French  bills),  350,559.10 

Army  and  Indian  Department,  749,281.28 

Navy  Department  (e),  1,314,001.22 

Domestic  debt  and  loans,    $5,724,811.53  ~)  ,  -*  ft  3<"e  coo  on 

Foreign  debt,                        2,631,520.67  /  L  •    $13i963|941.n 

Cash  in  Treasury  30th  September,  1805,  4,575,163.60 

$18,539,105.31 

Notes. 

(a)  About  700,000  dollars  of  this  sum  arises  from  the  Mediterranean  fund. 

(b)  Besides  about  45,000  dollars  paid  in  stock. 

(c)  Fines,  patents,  fees,  certificates,  &c. 

(d)  Surveying,  bonds  on  land  claims,  light-houses,  marine  hospitals,  mint, 
military  pensions,  Capitol,  Maryland  loans,  &c. 

(e)  It  is  apprehended  that  the  Navy  Department  will  have  expended  at 
least  300,000  dollars  more  than  that  sum,  and  more  than  the  appropria 
tions  ;  for  which  difference  they  are  in  debt,  and  cannot  pay  till  Congress 
shall  have  made  an  additional  appropriation. 

(/)  Of  which  the  payments  for  interest  are  estimated  at       $4,156,338.20 
and  those  of  principal  redeemed  at  about  4,200,000.00 

$8,356,338.20 


260  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

November  6,  1805. 

Th.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

In  the  case  of  L,  H.  Guerlain,  of  New  Orleans,  it  is  undeni 
able  that  a  fraud  on  the  revenue  was  meditated.  Yet,  under  all 
the  circumstances  of  the  case,  I  am  of  opinion  he  will  be  suf 
ficiently  punished  by  forfeiting  the  difference  between  his  invoice 
and  the  appraisement,  stated  to  be  $7548.45,  by  the  payment  of 
duties,  $9500,  and  by  the  loss  by  the  proceeds  of  sales. 

The  chief  motive,  which  in  other  cases  might  restrain  the 
disposition  to  remit,  would  be  the  interest  given  by  law  to  the 
custom-house  officer  or  informer;  but  I  understand  the  officer 
was  to  give  an  exorbitant  fee  to  his  attorney  in  the  case  if 
he  obtained  a  conviction  :  this  completely  does  away  all  regard 
to  his  interest,  and  places  him  under  our  eye  in  the  most  un 
favorable  light.  If  lawyers  are  to  be  urged  to  use  all  the 
resources  of  their  profession,  by  exorbitant  fees,  to  convict  those 
accused,  the  next  step  will  be  the  subornation  of  witnesses,  and 
other  foul  practices.  Proceedings  leading  to  such  oppression  of 
individuals  should  be  marked  with  the  disapprobation  of  govern 
ment.  Knowing  as  I  do  the  correct  character  of  Mr.  Brown, 
I  am  at  a  loss  to  account  for  this  act  of  impropriety,  and  think 
the  request  of  an  explanation  (if  the  fact  be  true)  would  be  a 
proper  admonition  to  guard  his  future  conduct.  Affectionate 
salutations. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

November  16,  1805. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

The  Jersey  law  puts  the  lands  on  Sandy  Hook  completely  in 
our  power;  and  having  paid  the  money,  the  fee-simple  is  fixed 
in  the  United  States  unconditionally  forever;  nor  would  it  be  in 
the  power  of  the  Jersey  Legislature  to  alter  it  were  they  disposed. 
Mr.  Hartshorne's  conduct  has  been  so  sordid  as  to  prove  that 
nothing  restrains  him  from  any  robbery,  private  or  public,  but 


1805.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  261 

the  power  of  the  law.  He  is  entitled  to  no  indulgence,  therefore ; 
but  for  the  sake  of  peace  we  may  yield  something.  I  think  it 
would  be  wrong  to  tack  his  conditions  to  the  fee-simple  of  the 
land  forever.  It  would  be  a  kind  of  hereditary  trammel  un 
known  to  our  estates  in  this  country,  and  which  would  adhere 
to  this  land  forever,  even  should  it  become  private  property  here 
after.  I  would,  therefore,  limit  the  existence  of  the  restrictions 
to  twenty,  or  any  other  number  of  years  you  please,  and  sub 
stitute  the  present  instead  of  the  reasonable  terms  therein  spoken 
of,  and  which  is  too  vague.  Affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

November  20,  1805. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

Can  you  be  so  good  as  to  let  me  have  the  financial  paragraph 
this  morning,  as  there  is  not  more  than  time  enough  to  submit 
the  message  successively  to  the  different  gentlemen  for  correction 
and  then  to  have  copies  ? 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

[21st  November,  1805.] 

DEAE  SIR, — I  stayed  yesterday  at  home  preparing  my  report 
for  Congress,  and  did  not  receive  your  note  till  evening.  The 
sickness  of  a  clerk  who  has  received  the  proper  instructions  to 
analyze  in  the  form  I  want  the  collectors7  returns  of  revenue  pre 
vents  yet  my  giving  precise  sums,  and  they  may  yet  be  consid 
ered  as  blanks.  The  first  paragraph  of  that  part  of  the  message 
which  relates  to  the  Treasury  will,  however,  be  certainly  within 
bounds  with  the  following  alterations  : 

1st.  Receipts  in  the  Treasury,  say  only  upwards  of  13  mil 
lions  instead  of  13J.  The  amount  of  those  receipts  is  correct 
as  I  gave  it  to  you,  but  a  part  arises  from  repayments,  which 
do  not  constitute  any  part  of  the  revenue. 


262  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

2d.  Instead  of  the  words  "  upwards  of  six  millions,  &c.,"  to 
the  word  "  convention,"  say,  "  have  enabled  us  to  pay  nearly 
two  millions  of  the  debt  contracted  by  the  British  treaty  and 
convention,  and  upwards  of  four  millions  of  the  principal  of 
the  funded  debt." 

3d.  At  the  end  of  the  paragraph,  when  speaking  of  the  total 
redemption  of  the  principal  of  the  funded  debt,  say  "upwards 
of  17  millions,"  instead  of  "between  16  and  17  millions." 

4th.  I  would  also  propose  to  transpose  the  sentence,  "and 
there  remained  in  the  Treasury,  &c.,  upwards  of  4J  millions," 
in  order  to  throw  it  in  the  ensuing  paragraph  for  the  purpose 
of  introducing  as  connected  with  it  the  following  information, 
which  is  now  omitted,  viz. :  that  the  increase  of  receipts  and 
revenue  during  last  year  (which  are  the  cause  of  so  much  as  4J 
millions  remaining  in  the  Treasury)  will  enable  us  next  year 
not  only  to  pay  the  current  demands,  &c.,  as  stated  in  the  second 
paragraph,  but  also  to  pay  the  whole  amount  of  3,750,000 
dollars  for  American  claims  assumed  by  the  French  convention, 
without  recurring  to  the  authority  which  had  been  given  to 
borrow  1,750,000  dollars  for  that  object.  For  we  had  hereto 
fore  never  engaged  to  pay  more  than  two  millions  of  that  item 
out  of  the  common  Treasury  receipts. 

By  what  precedes  I  have  anticipated  all  I  had  to  say  on  the 
second  paragraph.  The  only  thing  which  perhaps  should  be 
added  to  the  information  given  of  an  expected  surplus  of  one 
million  for  next  year,  is  that  that  expectation  is  confined  to  next 
year. 

For  it  is  altogether  predicated  on  the  calculations  of  an 
European  war  revenue ;  and  even  whilst  that  war  continues,  the 
revenue  will  be  materially  affected  by  the  late  measures  of  Eng 
land,  if  persisted  in  and  carried  to  the  threatened  extent.  Every 
measure  of  retaliation  which  we  may  adopt,  however  well  cal 
culated  for  that  object,  will  have  a  tendency  rather  to  diminish 
than  to  increase  the  revenue;  and,  at  all  events,  will  not 
diminish  the  decrease  produced  by  the  English  measures.  I 
must  also  add  that  in  calculating  the  surplus  I  had  estimated 
tjie  navy  expenditure  at  the  old  agreed-on  sum  of  650,000 
dollars,  instead  of  which  the  estimate  of  the  Secretary  of  the 


1805.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  263 

Navy,  besides   the  deficiencies   of  this  year,  amounts    for  the 
current  service  of  next  year  to  1,070,000  dollars. 

Upon  due  consideration,  I  think  that  the  two  last  paragraphs 
should  be  omitted.  As  it  relates  to  foreign  nations,  it  will 
certainly  destroy  the  effect  intended  by  other  parts  of  the 
message. 

They  never  can  think  us  serious  in  any  intentions  to  resist 
if  we  recommend  at  the  same  time  a  diminution  of  our  resources. 
But  as  it  relates  to  ourselves,  the  fact  is  that  we  want  the  money 
to  effect  the  Florida  purchase. 

The  two  millions  wanted  immediately  cannot  be  procured 
without  that  fund.  If  we  part  with  it,  we  must  borrow  for 
that  object.  To  that  resource  I  feel  a  great  reluctance  when  it 
can  possibly  be  avoided.  It  would  be  very  pleasing  to  give  the 
pattern  of  an  eight  years'  Administration  who  had  done  the 
business  of  the  nation  without  recurring  to  any  loan.  We  may 
within  three  years,  with  the  aid  of  that  fund,  pay  entirely  for 
Florida,  and  then  the  salt  duty  may  be  given  up.  For  at  the 
end  of  the  year  1808,  Florida  being  paid  for,  about  30  millions 
of  the  funded  debt  extinguished,  the  ordinary  revenue  increased 
perhaps  one  million  by  our  natural  increase,  and  the  United 
States  no  longer  obliged  to  pay  8  millions  a  year  for  the  debt 
unless  convenient,  you  could  recommend  the  abolition  of  the 
salt  duty  instead  of  merely  a  substitution.  I  heartily  wish  it 
to  be  done  within  our  time,  but  had  rather  abstain  for  this  time 
from  a  positive  recommendation  than  to  be  obliged  to  borrow. 
It  is  not  indeed  probable  that  the  proposed  plan  for  Florida 
will  be  relished  by  Congress,  unless  they  see  that  the  object  can 
be  obtained  without  increasing  the  debt. 

It  must  also  be  remembered  that  in  the  message  you  leave 
it  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  it  may  not  prove  necessary  to 
increase  the  army. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

I  find  amongst  my  papers  a  view  of  the  Spanish  ports  in 
Texas,  taken  from  Pages,  Sibley,  Nolen,  and  Humboldt ;  per 
haps  you  may  find  something  in  it  to  add  to  your  notes.  Sib- 
ley  places  the  settlement  at  Bayou  Pierre  in  one  of  his  letters 


264  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

50  and  in  another  80  miles  above  Natchitoches,  Campti  he  places 
uniformly  at  20. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

November  24,  1805. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  send  you  the  message  to  ask  a  scrupulous  revisal,  and  as  early 
an  one  as  you  can,  because  there  does  not  remain  more  than  time 
enough  to  submit  it  successively  to  the  other  gentlemen  for  their 
corrections,  to  make  copies,  &c.  On  reviewing  what  had  been 
prepared  as  to  Great  Britain  and  Spain,  I  found  it  too  soft 
towards  the  former  compared  with  the  latter,  and  that  so  tem 
perate  a  notice  of  the  greater  enormity  of  British  invasions  of 
right  might  lessen  the  effect  which  the  strong  language  towards 
Spain  was  meant  to  produce  at  the  Tuileries.  I  have,  therefore, 
given  more  force  to  the  strictures  on  Britain. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 
BEMAKKS   ON   THE   MESSAGE. 

[25th  November,  1805.] 

The  second  paragraph  on  the  yellow  fever  ends  rather  abruptly ; 
nothing  is  proposed  or  suggested  for  Congress  to  do  which  can 
remedy  the  inconvenience  complained  of. 

Third  paragraph. — "  On  the  rumor  of  such  an  armament, 
&c."  I  would  rather  suppress  those  words,  and  say  only,  "  Most 
of  them  have  lately  disappeared,  &c." 

Fourth  paragraph. — "  Similar  aggressions  are  now  renewed 
and  multiplied  both  in  Europe  and  America."  It  seems  that 
this  mode  of  expression  might  be  softened,  or  some  direct  allu 
sion  made  to  the  favorable  change  announced  by  Yrujo's  com 
munication,  and  especially  by  Pinkney's  last  letter. 

Do. — "all  this  by  the  regular  officers  and  soldiers,  &c."  As 
this  alludes  to  what  has  been  done  in  the  territory  delivered  by 
Spain,  and  excludes,  therefore,  the  seizure  at  Bayou  Pierre,  it  is 


1805.  LETTEES,    ETC.  265 

doubtful  whether  officers  have  been  actually  parties  to  the  act,  for 
the  only  act  I  remember  is  the  robbery  near  Opelousas. 

Do. — The  words  added  in  pencil  are,  I  think,  perfectly  proper. 

Do. — Speaking  of  the  militia — the  words  "  our  younger  citizens 
of  all  times"  contain,  I  suppose,  a  mistake  in  transcribing. 

Indian  treaties,  "the  whole  of  both  banks  from  the  Ohio, 
&c"  This  is  not  strictly  correct;  the  lands  between  the  mouth 
of  the  Tennessee  and  the  mouth  of  the  Ohio  have  not  been  ceded 
by  the  Chickasaws. 

Financial  paragraph — "in  the  three  preceding  years."  I 
had  not  attended  in  my  former  remarks  to  the  period  embraced 
by  the  message,  which  exactly  covers  four  years,  viz.,  from  1st 
October,  1801,  to  1st  October,  1805;  but  had  taken  it  to  be  four 
years  and  half,  or  from  1st  April,  1801. 

The  debt  redeemed  during  the  four  years  is  only  sixteen 
millions  and  half,  as  you  had  it  at  first.  The  debt  redeemed 
during  the  four  years  and  half  (viz.,  from  the  beginning  of  your 
Administration)  is  seventeen  millions  eight  hundred  and  seventy- 
five  thousand  dollars.  If  you  preserve  the  words  "three  years" 
(which  is,  I  believe,  necessary  to  make  this  message  a  proper 
sequel  of  the  preceding  ones),  then  you  must  say,  "upwards  of 
sixteen,"  or  "  sixteen  millions  and  half,"  instead  of  "  seventeen 
millions." 

Same  paragraph. — The  words,  "  as  fast  as  the  original  con 
tracts  permit,"  should  be  struck  out,  as  the  contracts  will  not 
yet  this  year  prevent  our  applying  the  whole  sum  of  eight 
millions.  In  the  same  sentence  the  word  redeem  is  not  sufficient: 
the  eight  millions  are  appropriated  for  both  the  payment  of 
interest  and  redemption  of  principal. 


The  above  remarks  are  all  unimportant;  but  I  really  discover, 
notwithstanding  the  delicacy  of  the  subjects  introduced,  nothing 
which  seems  objectionable  or  susceptible  of  alterations  for  the 
better.  Perhaps,  as  there  will  be  a  difference  of  opinion  on  the 
efficacy  of  the  various  modes  of  defending  our  harbors,  that  part 
of  the  message  might  be  so  modified  as  not  to  exclude  altogether 
the  idea  of  permanent  additional  fortifications. 


266  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

I  mentioned  that  the  peace  establishment  navy  law  was  alto 
gether  incompetent,  inasmuch  as  it  authorizes  the  employment 
of  frigates  only,  and  those  manned  with  only  two-thirds  crew, 
and  absolutely  directs  that  six  such  shall  be  put  in  commission. 

An  authority  to  preserve  and,  indeed,  to  appoint  a  greater 
number  of  captains  and  lieutenants  is  also  desirable.  But 
whether  these  points  should  make  part  of  the  message  or  be 
introduced  in  some  other  way  is  not  for  me  to  say ;  only  some 
apparent  attention  to  render  our  small  force  more  efficacious  and 
to  provide  for  the  promotion  of  some  of  the  officers  might  have 
a  good  effect  on  our  foreign  relations,  and  would  be  popular  at 

home. 

Respectfully  submitted. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

November  26,  1805. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

1.  The  concessions  to  Renault.     As  to  those  in  the  Territory 
of  Indiana,  that  country  having  been  claimed  by  England  at  all 
times,  conquered  in  the  war  of  1755,  and  confirmed  to  her  in 
1763;  conquered  by  the  United  States,  and  confirmed  to  them 
in  1783;  and  all  ancient  titles  there  settled  and  done  with  by 
authority  of  the  United  States;   these  claims  of  Renault  are 
certainly  at  an  end. 

2.  As  to  those  in  Louisiana ;  I  believe  it  has  been  a  law  as 
well  as  invariable  usage  with  the  Spanish  government  in  that 
country  to  consider  all  concessions  void  which  were  not  settled 
within   one,   two,  or   three  years,  which   condition   was   often 
expressed  in  the  grant,  and  understood  where  not  expressed. 
O'Reilly's  Ordinance  is  evidence  of  this  policy  and  practice. 
But   independently  of  positive   law,  prescription  is  a  law  of 
reason  :  if  Renault  ever  took  possession,  which  does  not  appear, 
he  has  abandoned  that  possession  more  than  sixty  or  seventy 
years,  as  appears  by  Austin's  statement,  which  is  that  so  long 
ago  as  1738  these  mines  were  considered  as  public  property. 

3.  As  to  the  concessions  in  1797  to  Winter  and  others,  exclu- 


1805.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  267 

sive  of  the  fraud  and  illegality  so  obvious  on  their  face,  they 
bore  the  express  condition  of  becoming  void  if  not  settled  in  a 
year. 

However,  the  commissioners  of  Congress  (I  believe)  are  to 
report  titles  for  the  ultimate  decision  of  Congress.  Whether  it 
would  be  proper  for  us  in  the  mean  time  to  express  sentiments 
which  might  discourage  speculations  is  to  be  considered  of. 

I  had  been  sensible  the  passage  on  the  yellow  fever  appeared 
bald,  for  want  of  a  practical  application.  The  real  object  being 
to  bring  important  facts  before  foreign  governments,  an  ostensible 
one  was  necessary  to  cover  the  reality.  I  have  endeavored  at  it 
in  the  enclosed,  as  well  as  some  other  supplements  suggested  by 
you,  of  which  I  ask  your  consideration.  Affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON  TO    GALLATIN. 


Enclosed  for  consideration  and  amendment. 


[November,  1805.] 

The  best  ground  for  estimating  the  number  of  seamen  of  the 
Uniced  States  to  be  enrolled  under  the  Act  for  establishing  a 
naval  militia  is  the  tonnage  of  our  vessels.  The  latest  return 
of  tonnage  states  it  to  have  been  on  the  31st  of  December,  1803, 
as  follows : 

Tons. 

Registered  tonnage  employed  in  foreign  trade,  585,909 

In  the  whale-fisheries,  12,389 

Cod-fisheries,  50,969 

63,358 
In  the  coasting  trade,  267,787 

917,054 

We  are  supposed  to  employ  usually  in  navigating 
our  vessels  about  6  men  to  every  100  tons.  But  allow 
ing  for  those  who  are  not  free  white  citizens  within  the 
military  age,  we  may  estimate  5  to  the  100  tons.  5 

45,852 


268  WETTINGS     OF    GAL  LATIN.  1805. 

To  these  should  be  added  the  seamen  then  in  our  navy, 
and  those  employed  on  the  tide-waters  within  the 
United  States,  which  we  may  safely  state  as  making 
the  whole  number  amount  to  50,000 

An  Estimate  of  the  Land  Militia  of  the  United  States. 

The  census  of  1800  gave  us  of  free  white  males  of 
16  and  under  26  384,554 

of  26  and  under  45  423,836 

Our  military  age  excluding  those  under  18,  we  must 
from  the  number  384,554 

deduct  those  in  their  17th  and  18th  years,  which,  by 
Buffon's  tables,  will  be  80,405 

Remain  of  the  age  of  18  and  under  45,  to  wit,  the 
minor  and  junior  classes,  304,149 

Our  censuses  of  1790  and  1800  having  showed  our 
increase  to  be  in  a  geometrical  ratio  of  3J  per  cent, 
per  annum,  the  increase  from  1800  to  1805  is  54,184 

leaving  our  whole  number  of  free  white  males  from 
18  to  26  in  1805  358,333 

From  these  are  to  be  deducted  the  naval  militia-men, 
but  far  the  greater  part  of  those  employed  in  the  foreign 
trade  and  whale-fisheries  being  always  absent,  it  is  be 
lieved  that  not  half  of  them  were  included  in  the 
census.  Those  supposed  included,  then,  are  35,000, 
of  which,  according  to  Buffon,  those  of  18  and  under 
26  will  be  only  11,711 

leaving  of  free  white  landsmen  from  18  to  26  in  1805     346  622 
From  these  are  still  to  be  deducted  those  not  able- 
bodied  :  suppose  them  1  in  10,  34,662 
leaving  of  free,  white,  able-bodied  landsmen  of  18 
and  under  26                                                                          311  960 

To  find  what  proportion  of  these  will  be  of  the  minor 
and  what  of  the  junior  class,  we  are  to  inquire,  of  31 1,960 
persons  of  18  and  under  26  years  of  age,  how  many  will 
there  be  of  each  different  year  of  age  ?  Buffon's  tables 
resolve  them  as  follows:  As  84,589  in  Buffon  from  18 


1805. 


LETTERS,    ETC. 


269 


to  26  :  to  311,960  in  the  United  States  of  the  same  age: 
so  are  11,014  in  Buffon  in  their  19th  year:  to  x,  the 
number  in  the  United  States  in  their  19th  year;  then 

X11,014  =  3.69X11,014.    Consequently 


O-j  -I 

x= 


84,o89 

Buffon's  Nos.   in  U.  S. 
those  in  their  19th  year  will  be  3.69X11,014=40,619 


20th 
21st 

22d 

23d 

24th 

25th 

26th 


X  10,919  =  40,267  [-  =  120,598  of    the 

X  10,768  =  39,712)  minor 

class. 

X  10,675  =  39,3681 
X  10,514  =  38,775 

X  10,380  =  38,281  {-  =  191,358  of   the 

X  10,259  =  37,834          311,956  junior 

X  10,060  =  37,100  J  class. 


311,956 


To  obtain  the  respective  numbers  of  the  middle  and 
senior  classes,  the  census  of  1800  gave  for  both 
Add  the  increase  from  1800  to  1805, 

from  which  are  to  be  deducted  seamen  from  26  to  45, 

deduct  those  also  not  able-bodied,  suppose  1  in  10, 
leaves  free,  white,  able-bodied  landsmen  from  26  to  45, 
Buffon's  tables  make  the  numbers  of  26  and  under 
35  =  84,182,  and  those  of  35  and  under  45  =  84,018. 
These  are  so  nearly  equal  that  we  may  consider  the 
middle  class  one-half,  to  wit, 
and  the  senior  class  one-half,  to  wit, 


423,836 
75,506 

499,342 
23,289 

476,053 
47,605 

428,448 


214,224 
214,224 


Recapitulation. 

Naval  militia, 

Land  militia,  minor  class,  120,598 
junior  "  191,358 
middle  "  214,224 
senior  "  214,224 


50,000 


740,404 
790,404 


270  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1805. 

An  Act  for  classing  the  militia  and  assigning  to  each  class  its 
particular  duties. 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  That  every  free,  able-bodied  white  male 
citizen  of  the  United  States  of  the  age  of  18  years  and  under 
the  age  of  45,  whose  principal  occupation  is  not  on  the  high 
sea  or  the  tide-waters  within  the  United  States,  shall  be  of  the 
militia  for  the  land  service  of  the  United  States. 

Enrolment. — The  persons  so  to  constitute  the  land  militia 
shall  be  enrolled  by  their  names  and  ages  in  their  proper  dis 
tricts,  and  in  books  to  be  kept  for  that  purpose;  such  enrolment 
to  be  made  without  delay  of  those  now  within  the  description, 
and  from  time  to  time  as  to  others  who  shall  hereafter  become 
so,  always  noting  the  date  of  the  enrolment,  and  placing  in  a 
distinct  page  or  part  of  the  book  those  of  every  different  year 
of  age,  from  45  down  to  18.  In  deciding  on  the  ages  of  the 
persons  to  be  enrolled,  the  officer  shall  make  up  his  judgment 
from  the  information  of  the  party  himself,  and  from  such  other 
information  as  he  can  obtain,  and  where  this  is  not  satisfactory, 
then  from  his  own  inspection. 

Classification. — The  said  militia  shall  be  distributed  into  classes 
as  follows,  to  wit:  the  junior  class  shall  be  composed  of  those 
above  21  and  under  26  years  of  age;  the  middle  class  of  those 
above  26  and  under  35  years  of  age ;  the  senior  class  of  those 
above  35  and  under  45  years  of  age;  and  those  above  18  and 
under  21  years  of  age  shall  compose  the  minor  class. 

Their  training. — The  junior  and  minor  classes  shall  each  have 
their  separate  captains  and  other  inferior  officers,  those  for  the 
juniors  being  selected  with  a  view  to  actual  service,  and  shall 
be  strictly  trained  to  the  exercises  and  mano3iivres  of  a  soldier, 
either  of  artillery,  infantry,  or  cavalry,  as  may  be  lawfully  des 
ignated  ;  for  which  purpose  they  shall  be  mustered  and  trained 
one  whole  day  in  every  month  of  the  year,  two  of  which  mus 
ters  shall  be  in  battalion  and  the  others  in  companies.  The 
captains  of  the  said  two  classes,  with  the  general  and  field  offi 
cers  having  command  over  them,  shall  form  a  distinct  court- 
martial  for  the  rigorous  enforcement  of  the  duties  of  attendance 
and  training.  Each  person  of  the  said  junior  class  shall  be 
furnished  with  a  good  musket,  bayonet,  and  cartridge-box  at 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  271 

the  public  expense,  so  soon  as  they  can  be  provided,  which, 
except  where  he  shall  be  of  the  cavalry  or  artillery,  he  shall 
be  bound  to  produce  in  good  order  at  every  muster  at  which 
he  shall  be,  so  long  as  he  shall  be  under  the  age  of  45  years, 
after  which  it  shall  be  his  property. 

Where,  at  the  passing  of  this  Act,  any  member  of  the  militia 
shall  be  in  the  possession  of  such  arms  provided  by  his  State  or 
Territory,  or  by  himself,  the  same  shall  be  reviewed  and  valued 
by  some  person  appointed  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  if 
found  in  perfect  order  and  of  proper  calibre,  they  shall  be  paid  for 
by  the  United  States  if  such  be  the  choice  of  the  party  furnishing 
them,  and  shall  thereafter  be  in  the  hands  of  the  holder  as  the 
property  of  the  United  States,  under  the  same  trust  and  right  as 
if  they  had  been  originally  furnished  him  by  the  United  States. 

The  middle  class  shall  in  like  manner  be  formed  into  com 
panies  by  themselves,  to  be  commanded  by  their  own  captains 
and  other  inferior  officers;  they  shall  be  mustered  and  trained 
twice  only  in  the  year  in  companies,  and  once  in  battalion.  The 
senior  class,  in  distinct  companies  also,  and  under  its  own  captains 
and  other  inferior  officers,  shall  be  mustered  and  trained  one  day 
in  the  year  only  in  companies,  and  one  in  battalion  ;  and  both  the 
middle  and  senior  classes  shall  be  under  the  jurisdiction  of  their 
captains,  formed  into  one  and  the  same  court-martial,  with  the 
general  and  field  officers  having  command  over  them. 

Actual  service. — The  junior  class  shall  be  liable  to  perform  all 
active  military  services  within  the  United  States,  or  the  countries 

next   adjacent  )    i  ~  ,    . 

i    •      ...      L  by  tours  of  duty  not  to  exceed  one  year  m  any 
m  their  vicinity  j 

two ;  and  in  order  that  the  said  services  may  be  required  of  them 
equally,  those  of  every  j ,  , .  r  shall  be  divided  by  lot  into  ten 

parts  or  portions,  as  nearly  equal  as  may  be,  each  portion  to  be  dis 
tinguished  by  its  particular  number,  from  1  to  10,  and  to  be  called 
into  duty  in  the  order  of  their  numbers,  such  call  extending  to  so 
many  numbers  as  the  exigency  may  require ;  and  every  person  so 
called  on  may  be  assigned  to  the  service  of  the  artillery,  infantry, 
cavalry,  or  of  any  other  description  as  the  competent  authority 
shall  direct. 


272  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

The  middle  class  shall  be  liable  to  be  called  on  to  do  duty 
within  their  State  only,  or  in  one  of  the  adjoining  States;  and 
that  by  tours  not  exceeding  three  months  in  any  year ;  for  which 
purpose  they  shall  be  distributed  into  portions  and  numbers,  and 
called  on  in  routine,  as  is  provided  in  the  case  of  the  junior  class. 

The  senior  and  minor  classes  shall  be  liable  to  be  called  on  to 
do  duty  within  their  own  State  only,  and  by  tours  not  exceed 
ing  three  months  in  any  year ;  and  they  shall  be  separately  dis 
tributed  into  portions  and  numbers,  and  called  on  in  routine  as 
provided  for  the  other  classes. 

Exemptions  from  militia  duty  shall  only  extend  to  the  ordinary 
duties  of  mustering  and  training  after  having  entered  the  middle 
or  senior  class.  Such  exempts  shall  nevertheless  be  enrolled  in 
their  classes  and  numbers,  and,  when  called  on  for  actual  military 
service,  shall  be  bound  as  others  are  to  perform  their  due  tours. 

If  any  person  called  on  to  do  the  actual  duties  of  his  class 
shall  refuse  or  unnecessarily  delay  to  enter  on  duty,  he  shall  be 
arrested  as  a  deserter  either  by  the  civil  or  military  authority, 
shall  be  delivered  to  the  proper  military  officer,  and  either  pun 
ished  as  a  deserter,  or  compelled  to  perform  his  tour  of  duty ; 
but  any  person  so  called  on  may  commute  his  personal  service 
by  tendering  as  a  substitute  an  able-bodied  free  white  man  fit 
for  the  service  in  the  judgment  of  the  officer  who  is  to  command 
him,  and  willing  to  engage  therein.  And  all  persons  while 
engaged  in  the  performance  of  a  tour  of  duty  shall  have  the 
pay  and  rations  allowed  in  the  army  of  the  United  States,  and 
be  subject  to  the  rules,  regulations,  and  articles  provided  for  the 
government  of  the  same. 

All  provisions  in  any  law  of  the  United  States,  or  of  any 
particular  State  or  Territory,  inconsistent  with  those  of  this  Act, 
are  hereby  repealed ;  and  all  provisions  in  the  laws  of  the  United 
States,  or  of  any  particular  State  or  Territory,  not  inconsistent 
herewith,  shall  be  understood  to  be  left  in  force,  and  liable  to 
alteration  by  their  respective  enacting  authorities. 

A  Sill  for  establishing  a  Naval  Militia. 

Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  that  every  free,  able-bodied  white  male 
citizen  of  the  United  States,  of  the  age  of  18  years,  and  under 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  273 

the  age  of  45,  whose  principal  occupation  is  on  the  high  sea  or 
on  the  tide-waters  within  the  United  States,  shall  be  of  the 
militia  for  the  naval  service  of  the  United  States,  and  shall  be 
exempt  from  the  services  of  the  land  militia. 

The  persons  so  to  constitute  the  said  naval  militia  shall  be 
enrolled  in  the  several  ports,  harbors,  or  towns  thereto  adjacent 
to  which  they  belong  or  are  most  convenient,  by  their  names, 
ages,  places  of  birth  and  abode,  and  personal  descriptions,  with 
the  date  of  their  enrolment;  and  shall  be  formed  into  companies, 
each  to  be  commanded  by  a  lieutenant-commandant  and  second 
lieutenant,  to  be  appointed  by  the  authority  of  the  State  to  which 
such  company  belongs. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  senior  lieutenant-commandant  of 
each  port,  harbor,  or  town  thereto  adjacent  to  enroll  in  a  book, 
to  be  kept  by  him  for  that  purpose,  all  persons  who  by  this 
Act  are  made  naval  militia-men,  belonging  to  his  said  port  or 
harbor,  or  within  the  limits  assigned  as  most  convenient  to  the 
same;  registering  in  a  distinct  page  or  part  of  his  book  those  of 
every  different  year  of  age  from  45  down  to  18 ;  and  whenever 
a  person  enrolled  in  one  port  of  the  United  States  shall  remove 
to  another,  the  enrolling  officer  of  the  latter  port  shall  imme 
diately  enter  him  on  his  book,  noting  the  date  and  place  of  his 
former  enrolment,  in  addition  to  the  other  circumstances  before 
prescribed. 

In  deciding  on  the  ages  of  persons  to  be  enrolled,  the  officer 
shall  make  up  his  judgment  from  the  information  of  the  party 
himself,  from  such  other  information  as  he  can  obtain,  and  from 
his  own  inspection. 

Every  person  enrolled  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  from  the 
officer  possessing  the  book  of  enrolment  an  authenticated  tran 
script  from  the  same  of  the  entry  respecting  himself,  on  payment 
of  twenty-five  cents,  and  to  have  the  same  renewed  on  the  same 
condition  from  time  to  time  when  lost  or  destroyed,  which  shall 
exempt  him  from  training  duties  at  the  port  of  his  former  en 
rolment,  and  from  the  duties  of  the  land  militia;  and  shall  be 
considered  otherwise  as  instead  of  the  certificate  of  citizenship 
heretofore  given  by  the  collectors  of  the  customs;  which  certificates 
shall  hereafter  cease  to  be  given. 
VOL.  i. — 19 


274  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

Every  enrolling  officer  shall  on,  or  immediately  after,  the  1st 
day  of  October  in  every  year  make  a  return  of  his  roll  to  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  of  the  United  States  according  to  its 
actual  state,  as  affected  since  the  last  return  by  age,  discharge, 
death,  removal,  new  enrolments,  or  otherwise. 

It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  officers  once  in  every  [two] 
months  at  least  to  train  the  men  under  their  command,  who  may 
be  within  their  limits  at  the  time,  to  the  use  of  artillery  or  the 
manoBiivring  of  gunboats  or  other  armed  vessels  assigned  to  the 
defence  of  their  port,  or  confided  to  their  use.  And  all  acts  of 
disobedience  or  failure  in  duty  herein,  in  either  officers  or  men, 
shall  be  liable  to  the  same  pains,  penalties,  and  coercions,  and  to 
trial  by  a  court-martial  consisting  of  three  at  least  of  their  own 
officers,  as  are  provided  in  the  corresponding  cases  by  the  laws 
for  the  government  of  the  land  militia  of  the  United  States. 

In  cases  of  insurrection,  of  opposition  to  the  civil  authority, 
or  of  sudden  attack  by  an  enemy  happening  in  any  port,  harbor, 
or  town  on  the  tide-waters,  or  on  the  coasts  in  their  vicinities,  all 
persons  then  and  there  being  who  make  a  part  of  the  said  naval 
militia,  whether  of  the  same  or  of  any  other  place,  shall  be  liable 
to  be  called  on  to  do  duty  with  artillery  or  on  board  any  armed 
vessels  for  the  special  occasion  of  quelling  the  insurrection, 
enforcing  obedience  to  the  civil  authority,  or  resisting  the  attack; 
and  in  time  of  war,  either  actual  or  imminent,  all  under  [35]  years 
of  age,  wheresoever  they  shall  happen  to  be  within  the  juris 
diction  of  the  United  States,  shall  be  liable  to  be  called  on  to 
perform  tours  of  duty  not  exceeding  one  year  in  any  [two]  on 
board  of  any  of  the  public  armed  vessels  of  the  United  States, 
in  which  the  said  militia  officers,  in  subordination  to  the  regular 
officers  of  the  United  States  of  equal  or  superior  grade,  shall 
have  the  immediate  command  and  care  of  them. 

And  if  any  person  so  called  on  shall  refuse  or  unnecessarily 
delay  to  enter  on  duty,  he  shall  be  arrested  as  a  deserter  either 
by  the  civil  or  military  authority,  and  shall  be  delivered  to  the 
proper  military  officer,  and  either  punished  as  a  deserter  or  com 
pelled  to  perform  his  tour  of  duty;  but  any  person  so  called  on 
may  commute  his  personal  service  by  tendering  an  able-bodied 
free  white  man,  a  citizen  of  the  United  States,  fit  for  the  service 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  275 

in  the  judgment  of  the  officer  who  is  to  command  him,  and 
willing  to  engage  therein.  And  all  persons  while  engaged  in 
the  performance  of  a  tour  of  duty  shall  have  the  pay  and  rations 
allowed  in  the  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  be  subject  to  the 
rules  and  regulations  provided  for  the  government  of  the  same. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TREASURY,  November  27,  1805. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  supplements  to  the  message  exactly  meet  my 
ideas.  Only  I  do  not  understand  precisely  the  limitation  to  the 
number  of  captains  and  lieutenants,  which  is  intended  by  the 
words  "  to  the  number  of  frigates  which  were  actually  retained 
for  service."  But  if  I  understand  it,  it  seems  to  me  that  the 
word  vessels  should  be  substituted  to  frigates,  and  employed  in 
that  to  retained  for.  Perhaps,  however,  I  am  mistaken  in  your 
intention  of  limitation. 

The  yellow  fever  part  of  the  message  will  bring  on  you  all 
the  fever-importers  and  boards  of  health  of  the  Union. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSOX. 

REMARKS  ON  SPANISH  MESSAGE. 

[3d  December,  1805.] 

End.  of  first  paragraph. — Considering  the  last  proposition 
made  by  Spain  on  that  subject,  it  seems  to  me  that  instead  of 
saying  "  unless  we  would  relinquish  all  claims,  &c.,"  it  would 
be  more  correct  to  say,  "  unless  we  would  assent  to  modifications 
(or  alterations  in  the  instrument)  affecting  our  claims,  &c."  or 
words  to  that  effect. 

Beginning  of  second  page — "to  avoid  all  explanation  and  en 
gagement."  I  think  it  is  going  too  far  to  say  that  Spain  avoided 
all  explanation.  It  seems  that  Cevallos,  in  his  several  letters 
discussing  the  questions  of  right,  a  discussion  by  the  by  which 


276  WHITING-S     OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

was  not  calculated  to  promote  a  final  arrangement,  gave  sufficient 
explanations  of  the  claims  and  views  of  Spain ;  it  is  true  that 
they  gave  no  explanation  of  the  ground  on  which  they  would 
ultimately  come  to  an  agreement.  But  as  the  sentence  might 
be  misconstrued,  it  may  be  safer  to  say  only  that  she  avoided 
any  engagement  or  even  proposition  leading  to  an  arrangement. 

Beginning  of  third  page. — The  opinion  of  the  inference  to  be 
drawn  from  the  silence  of  France  is  perhaps  too  strongly  expressed 
as  to  extent.  I  would  prefer  to  omit  mentioning  Rio  Bravo  by 
name,  particularly  because  it  is  intended  to  accept  of  the  Colorado 
as  a  boundary;  and  this,  when  the  treaty  shall  come  before 
Congress,  would  be  considered  as  a  concession ;  it  might  then 
be  said  that  we  had  given  for  Florida  both  the  money  and  the 
country  between  Colorado  and  Rio  Bravo.  I  would  prefer 
saying  only  aher  opinion  in  favor  of  our  claim  in  that  quarter; 
and  we  had  reason  to  believe  that  her  commissary,  &c."  Of 
the  last  fact  we  have  only  hearsay  evidence  of  Laussat's  decla 
rations. 

Last  paragraph  but  one. — It  seems  to  me  that  the  latter  part 
of  this,  from  "  formal  war"  to  the  end,  breaks  the  connection  of 
the  sentiments  intended  to  be  conveyed.  For  it  is  the  object  of 
the  two  last  paragraphs  to  inform  Congress  that  France  being 
disposed  to  favor  an  arrangement,  the  present  moment  should 
not  be  lost,  but  that  the  means  must  be  supplied  by  Congress. 
It  is  also  intended  to  say  that  in  the  mean  while,  and  in  order 
to  promote  an  arrangement,  force  should  be  interposed  to  a  cer 
tain  degree.  But  I  think  a  transposition  would  make  the  whole 
clearer. 

To  the  tenor  of  the  message  itself  I  have  but  one  objection, 
that  it  does  not  explicitly  declare  the  object  in  view,  and  may 
hereafter  be  cavilled  at  as  having  induced  Congress  into  a  mis 
taken  opinion  of  that  object.  For  although  the  latter  end  of 
the  third  paragraph  is  expressed  in  comprehensive  terms,  yet 
the  omission  of  the  word  Florida  may  lead  to  error ;  nor  does 
the  message  convey  the  idea  that  in  order  to  effect  an  accommo 
dation  a  much  larger  sum  of  money  will  probably  be  requisite 
than  had  been  contemplated.  Perhaps  if,  when  speaking  of 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  277 

means  in  the  last  paragraph,  some  epithet  was  added  (greater 
means,  or  to  a  greater  extent  than  had  been  contemplated),  it 
would  free  the  message  and  subsequent  proceedings  of  the 
Executive  from  any  objections  of  that  kind. 


JEFFERSON    TO    GALLATIN. 
SPANISH  RESOLUTIONS.    1805. 


For  consideration  and  correction.     Th.  J. 


1.  Resolved,  that  no  armed  men,  not  being  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  ought  to  be  permitted  to  enter  or  remain,  nor  any 
authority  to  be  exercised  but  under   the   laws  of  the  United 
States,  within  the  former  colony  or  province  of  Louisiana  in  the 
extent  in  which  it  was  in  the  hands  of  Spain. 

2.  Resolved,  that  as  to  the  residue  of  the  said  "  former  colony 
or  province   of  Louisiana,  in  the  extent  it  had  when  France 
possessed    it,"  a   peaceable   adjustment  of  that  extent  is  most 
reasonable  and  desirable,  so  far  as  it  can  be  effected  consistently 
with  the  honor  of  the  United  States. 

3.  Resolved,  that  pending  measures  for  such  peaceable  ad 
justment,  neither  party  ought  to  take  new  posts  therein,  nor  to 
strengthen  those  they  held  before  the  1st  day  of  October,  1800, 
and  that  any  proceeding  to  the  contrary  on  the  part  of  Spain 
ought  to  be  opposed  by  force,  and  by  taking  possession  of  such 
posts  as  may  be  necessary  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  United 
States. 

4.  Resolved,  that  the  subjects  of  Spain  still  on  the  Missis 
sippi  and  its  waters  ought  to  be  allowed  an  innocent  passage, 
free  from  all  imposts,  along  that  part  of  the  river  which  passes 
through  the  territory  of  the  United  States.     And  the  citizens 
of  the  United  States  on  the  Mobile  and  its  waters  ought  to  be 
allowed  an  innocent  passage,  free  from  all  imposts,  along  that 
part  of  the  river  below  them  which  passes  through  the  territory 
still  held  by  Spain,  but  claimed  by  both  parties; 

Or  that  imposts  should   be  levied  for  and  by  the   United 


278  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1805. 

States  on  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  by  Spanish  subjects, 
countervailing  those  which  may  be  levied  for  and  by  Spain  on 
the  navigation  of  the  Mobile  by  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

And  that  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi  by  Spanish  sub 
jects  should  be  prohibited  whensoever  that  of  the  Mobile  by 
citizens  of  the  United  States  shall  be  prohibited. 

5.  Resolved,  that  in  support  of  these  resolutions,  and  of  the 
consequences  which  may  proceed  from  them,  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States,  by  their  Senate  and  Representatives  in  Congress 
assembled,  do  pledge  their  lives  and  fortunes ;  and  that  the  exe 
cution  of  these  resolutions  be  vested  with  the  President  of  the 
United  States. 

6.  Resolved,  that  for  carrying  these  resolutions  into  effect, 
whether  amicably  or  by  the  use  of  force,  the  President  be  au 
thorized  to  apply  any  moneys  in  the  Treasury  of  the  United 
States  not  otherwise  appropriated. 

7.  Resolved,  that  the  President  of  the  United  States  ought  to 
be  authorized  by  law  to  employ  the  armed  vessels  of  the  United 
States  which  may  be  in  commission,  for  restraining  the  irregu 
larities  and  oppressions  of  our  commerce,  other  than  those  which 
amount  to  piracy ,  by  privateers  cruising  within  the  Gulf  Stream, 
in  the  Gulf  itself,  or  among  the  islands  bordering  on  it,  and  that 
a  bill  be  brought  in  for  that  purpose. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

REMARKS  ON  SPANISH  RESOLUTIONS. 

[3d  December,  1805.] 

Three  distinct  objects  to  be  obtained  from  Congress : 
1st.  Some  public  resolutions,  bottomed  on  the  public  message 
of  the  President,  expressive  of  the  determination  of  that  body 
to  support  the  just  claims  of  the  United   States  in   case  no 
arrangement  should  take  place. 

2d.  Some  expression  of  the  intention  of  the  Legislature  to 
enable  the  President  to  make  an  arrangement  in  the  manner 
suggested  by  his  private  message ;  so  expressed  as  to  cover  the 


1805.  LETTERS,    ETC.  279 

whole  ground  and  as  to  justify  the  steps  he  means  to  take,  but 
not  so  as  to  divulge  the  extent  to  which  he  may  go. 

3d.  An  immediate  appropriation  of  a  sum  which,  if  neces 
sary,  may  be  paid  on  obtaining  an  order  of  delivery  and  with 
out  waiting  for  the  ratification  of  the  treaty. 

The  apparent  difficulty  in  framing  the  resolutions  arises  from 
the  attempt  to  blend  the  three  objects  together.  The  same 
reasons  which  have  induced  the  President  to  send  two  distinct 
messages  render  it  necessary  that  the  public  resolutions  of  Con 
gress  should  be  distinct  from  the  private  ones;  that  those  which 
relate  to  the  war  posture  of  the  Spanish  affairs,  which  are  in 
tended  to  express  the  national  sense  on  that  subject,  and  to 
enable  the  President  to  take  the  steps  which  appear  immediately 
necessary  on  the  frontier,  should  not  be  mixed  with  those  pro 
ceedings  calculated  only  to  effect  an  accommodation. 

The  course  now  recommended  is  precisely  that  which  was 
followed  in  the  Louisiana  business  when  the  deposit  was  with 
drawn.  A  public  resolution  (which  was  indeed  attacked  as 
wanting  sufficient  energy,  but  we  may  easily  give  a  proper 
tone  to  those  wanted  at  present)  was  moved  by  Randolph  and 
adopted  by  the  House.  A  committee  in  the  mean  while  brought 
in  a  confidential  report  sufficient  to  support  and  justify  the 
President  in  the  purchase  he  was  going  to  attempt,  and  to  this 
an  appropriation  law  in  very  general  terms  was  added.  To 
follow  a  similar  course  appears  not  only  best,  but  will  also,  as 
founded  on  precedent,  be  the  smoothest  mode  of  doing  the  busi 
ness  in  Congress. 

On  that  ground,  the  five  first  resolutions  proposed  by  the 
President,  together  with  such  modifications  as  may  be  suggested, 
and  the  additional  one  respecting  the  spoliations,  will  form  the 
public  resolutions  to  be  adopted  either  in  committee  of  the 
whole  on  the  Union,  or  by  the  select  committee  to  which  the 
Spanish  part  of  the  public  message  may  be  referred. 

The  select  committee  to  whom  the  private  message  may  be 
referred  will  make  the  report  which  we  want  to  justify  the  in 
structions  intended  to  be  given  to  Mr.  Armstrong  for  the  pur 
chase  of  Florida,  &c.  AYe  cannot  dictate  what  that  report  will 
be,  but  only  suggest  generally  what  we  want ;  and  provided 


280  WEI  TINGS     OF    GAL  LATIN.  1805. 

we  have  a  good  committee  and  their  report  favors  the  object, 
nothing  more  is  wanted,  as  no  question  will  be  taken  in  Con 
gress  on  the  report  itself.  That  middle  way  of  previous  appro 
bation  is  perhaps  the  most  congenial  to  the  free  exercise  of  the 
respective  functions  of  the  several  Departments.  It  gives  sanc 
tion  enough  to  the  views  of  the  Executive  to  enable  him  to 
proceed,  yet  without  either  taking  away  his  ultimate  responsi 
bility  or  committing  the  House  to  an  indiscriminate  previous 
approbation. 

The  only  resolution  reported  by  the  committee  will  be  that 
for  appropriating,  on  which  a  law  in  general  terms,  viz.,  for 
foreign  intercourse,  will  be  bottomed,  appropriating  the  sum 
which  Congress  may  fix  as  a  payment  previous  to  the  ratifica 
tion;  and  I  presume  that  two  millions  will  be  sufficient  and 
may  be  obtained  from  that  body.  I  do  not  think  that  they 
ever  will  agree  to  any  vague  limitation,  or  to  any  other,  indeed, 
but  that  of  the  sum  itself;  and  the  precedent  would  be  so  bad 
that  it  is  not  desirable  they  should. 

If  the  President  thinks  that  course  generally  eligible,  the 
only  object  which  calls  immediate  attention  is  that  of  the  pub 
lic  resolution.  I  have  only  those  which  had  been  first  suggested, 
and  cannot  make  any  remarks  precisely  applicable  to  their  pres 
ent  shape,  modified  as  they  have  been  since.  I  have  already 
verbally  mentioned  that  it  did  not  seem  to  me  that  the  object 
expressed  in  the  four  first  resolutions  was  of  sufficient  magni 
tude  to  justify  the  solemnity  of  the  fifth  resolution ;  and  I 
would  rather  that  this  last  should  be  confined  to  the  vesting  in 
the  President  the  execution  of  ;the  others. 

On  the  subject  of  the  new  (indemnities)  resolutions,  I  am  still 
of  opinion  that  the  United  States  should  not  pledge  themselves 
to  pursue  to  effect  the  indemnities  for  which  any  nation  is  an 
swerable  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States.  Although  the 
omission  of  the  word  justly  qualifies  the  declaration,  and  it 
might  be  argued  that  that  for  which  Spain  is  strictly  answer 
able  is  only  what  she  has  recognized,  yet  the  expression  is  too 
general  not  to  convey  a  different  meaning. 

The  true  reason  why  \ve  mean  never  to  abandon  the  claim 
for  spoliations  provided  for  by  the  convention  is,  that  their 


1805.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  281 

justice  was  formally  acknowledged  by  Spain  ;  and  I  think  it 
would  be  safer  to  place  it  on  that  ground,  by  either  a  direct 
allusion  to  the  convention  or  by  expressions  alluding  to  the 
recognition  by  Spain. 


JEFFERSON    TO    GALLATIN. 

December  4,  1805. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

Enclosed  is  a  revised  edition  of  the  Spanish  resolutions,  in 
which  you  will  find  most  of  your  ideas  conformed  to.  That 
respecting  money  is  omitted ;  that  it  may  be  provided  in  the  way 
you  suggest.  In  the  message,  also,  I  have  adopted  all  your 
amendments  except  the  last,  which  respected  merely  the  arrange 
ment  of  the  phrases,  and  could  not  be  satisfactorily  altered. 

[Enclosure.] 

1.  Resolved  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives  of 
the  United   States,  that  the  indemnities   for  which  -  Spain   is 
answerable  to  citizens  of  the  United  States  for  spoliations  and 
wrongs   committed    in  violation  of  the    law  of  nations  or  of 
treaty,  are  objects  too  just  and  important  not  to  be  pursued  to 
effect  by  the  United  States. 

2.  Resolved,  that  no  armed  men,   subjects   of  any    foreign 
power,  ought  to  be  permitted  to  enter  or  remain,  nor  any  au 
thority  but  of  the  United  States  to  be  exercised,  within  the 
former  colony  or  province  of  Louisiana,  in  the  extent  in  which 
it  was  delivered  by  Spain  under  the  Treaty  of  St.  Ildefonso. 

3.  Resolved,  that  as  to  the  residue  of  the  said  former  colony 
or  province  of  Louisiana,  and  provisions  necessary   to  avoid 
future  collisions  and  controversies,  an  equitable  adjustment  is 
most  reasonable. 

4.  Resolved,  that  pending  any  measures  for  such  adjustment 
neither  party  ought  to  take  new  posts  therein,  nor  to  strengthen 
those  they  held  before  the  1st  day  of  October,  1800,  and  that 
any  proceeding  to  the  contrary  on  the  part  of  Spain  ought  to 
be  opposed  by  force,  and  by  taking  possession  of  such  posts  as 
may  be  necessary  to  maintain  the  rights  of  the  United  States. 


282  WETTINGS     OP     GALLATIN.  1805. 

5.  Resolved,  &c.,  that  the  subjects  of  Spain  still  on  the  Mis 
sissippi  and  its  waters  ought  to  be  allowed  an  innocent  passage, 
free  from  all  imposts,  along  that  part  of  the  river  below  them 
which  passes  through  the  territory  of  the  United  States;  and 
the  citizens  of  the  United  States  on  the  Mobile  and  its  waters 
ought  to  be  allowed  an  innocent  passage,  free  from  all  imposts, 
along  that  part  of  the  river  below  them  which  passes  through 
the  territory  still  held  by  Spain,  but  claimed  by  both  parties. 

6.  Resolved,  that  a  copy  of  these  resolutions  be  presented  to 
the  President  of  the  United  States  for  his  approbation,  with 
an    assurance   that   he   will  receive   from  the  Legislature  the 
support  necessary  for  carrying  them  into  execution. 


GALLATIN  TO   JOSEPH   II.  NICHOLSON.* 

7th  December,  1805. 

Who  are  the  members  of  the  committee  on  Spanish  affairs? 
If  you  are  one,  I  am  requested  to  communicate  a  paper  to  you ; 
and  it  would  be  perhaps  as  well  that  you  should  see  the  Presi 
dent  before  the  committee  meet. 

Yours. 

Saturday. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

Saturday,  December  7,  1805. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

J.  Randolph  has  just  called  to  ask  a  conversation  with  me, 
for  which  purpose  he  will  be  with  me  to-morrow  morning; 
everything  therefore  had  better  be  suspended  till  that  is  over. 

1  Endorsed,  "Mr.  Gallatin 's  note  relative  to  the  appropriation  of  two 
millions  for  the  Floridas." 


1806.  LETTERS,    ETC.  283 

JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

December  15,  1805. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  return  you  the  papers  respecting  the  Sandy  Hook  business, 
which  I  am  content  should  be  closed  on  the  terms  already  pro 
posed  by  you.  It  is  well  that  a  government  should  feel  no 
temper  towards  a  rascally  individual,  or  the  present  case  would 
justify  a  high  degree  of  indignation  against  Mr.  Hartshorne. 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

NOTE.— SENDING  OFF  YKUJO. 

[January,  1806.] 

If  it  shall  be  thought  proper  and  within  the  legitimate  powers 
of  the  Executive  to  seize  and  send  off  a  foreign  minister,  would 
it  not  be  better  not  to  accompany  the  order  to  leave  the  country 
with  the  notification  that  in  case  of  failure  he  shall  be  sent  off 
by  force?  That  previous  knowledge  may  enable  him  to  oppose 
inconvenient  resistance,  or  to  place  himself  in  a  situation  which 
would  increase  the  difficulty  of  the  seizure,  or  perhaps  prevent 
it  altogether. 

It  appears  unnecessary  to  protract  the  term  too  far,  unless  it 
be  for  the  purpose  of  accommodating  the  man ;  for  the  com 
munication  intended  for  Europe  will  not  reach  its  destination 
before  the  first  of  September,  and  a  recall  grounded  on  that 
communication  cannot  arrive  before  his  voluntary  or  forcible 
departure.  It  would  also  appear  less  ungracious  to  send  him 
off  now  than  after  the  result  of  the  negotiations  now  pending 
between  Spain  and  the  United  States  is  known  here. 

The  following  expressions  in  the  substance  of  the  intended 
communication,  "that  should  he  fail  to  obey  this  requisition,  we 
shall  still  wait  a  short  time,  expecting  that,  &c.,"  convey  the 
idea  that  if  lie  does  not  depart  within  the  limited  time,  we  shall 
still  wait  a  further  time.  It  seems  that  the  order  to  leave  the 
country,  particularly  if  accompanied  with  a  notification  of  the 


284  WHITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1806. 

use  of  force  in  case  of  failure,  ought  to  be  conclusive,  and  that 
no  further  time  should  afterwards  be  granted. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 
NOTE.— INTENDED  NEGOTIATION  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN. 

If  the  United  States  succeed  in  making  satisfactory  arrange 
ments  on  the  three  principal  points  of  impressment  of  seamen, 
colonial  trade,  and  indemnity  for  spoliations,  it  may  be  naturally 
expected  that  Great  Britain  will  require  not  only  the  repeal  of 
the  Prohibition  Act  of  last  session,  but  also  some  security  that  the 
United  States  will  not,  by  subsequent  Acts  of  the  same  nature, 
place  her  on  a  worse  footing  than  other  nations.  She  may 
reasonably  urge  that  demand  on  the  double  plea  of  having 
yielded  on  those  points  which  were  the  subjects  of  complaint 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  of  her  being  now,  for 
want  of  a  commercial  treaty,  placed  in  that  respect  at  the  dis 
cretion  of  the  United  States;  whilst  they  are  precluded  by  their 
treaties  with  the  enemies  of  Great  Britain  (Holland,  France, 
and  Spain)  from  the  power  of  laying  prohibitions  or  restrictions 
particularly  affecting  those  nations. 

The  most  natural  arrangement  in  that  respect  will  be  simply 
to  agree  that  the  two  parties  shall  enjoy  in  the  ports  of  each 
other,  in  regard  to  commerce  and  navigation,  the  privileges  of 
the  most  favored  nation.  But  the  article  should  be  framed  so 
as  to  embrace,  Istly,  every  privilege,  and  particularly  the  ex 
emption  of  foreign  duties  of  every  description,  either  on  imports 
or  exports,  and  including  convoy  duties  that  are  paid  by  the  most 
favored  nation;  2dly,  all  the  possessions  of  Great  Britain  in 
every  part  of  the  world ;  which  will  secure  admission  in  the 
East  Indies  on  the  same  terms  as  the  most  favored  neutrals, 
and  in  the  West  Indies  on  the  same  terms  as  the  most  favored 
enemies;  securing,  at  all  events,  such  admission  in  case  the 
colonial  regulations  should  in  any  instance  be  hereafter  departed 
from  by  Great  Britain  in  favor  of  or  relation  to  any  other  nation ; 
for  which  purpose  it  should  be  expressly  stipulated  that  privileges 


1806.  LETTERS,    ETC.  285 

hereafter  granted  to  any  other  nation  shall  become  common  to 
the  contracting  nation. 

That  same  clause  of  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nation 
may  be  extended,  not  only  to  navigation  and  commercial  inter 
course  between  the  two  nations,  but  to  points  which  relate  to  the 
rights  and  duties  of  belligerents  and  neutrals — an  arrangement 
which  would  secure  to  Great  Britain  the  same  rights  in  relation 
to  the  admission  of  her  armed  vessels  in  our  ports  and  to  the 
exclusion  of  her  enemies7  privateers  and  of  their  prizes  \vhich 
are  now  enjoyed  by  Holland,  Spain,  and  other  most  favored 
nations;  whilst  it  would  place  the  rights  of  the  United  States 
as  neutrals  on  the  same  footing  with  Russia  or  the  most  favored 
nation,  in  respect  to  search,  convoys,  blockades,  and  contraband. 

If  it  shall  be  thought  eligible  to  place  the  reciprocal  com 
mercial  privileges  of  the  two  nations  on  a  more  definite  basis 
than  they  would  be  placed  by  the  general  expression  of  the  most 
favored  nation  (a  stipulation  which  is  liable  to  the  difficulty  of 
ascertaining  the  equivalent  to  be  given  in  cases  where  a  privilege 
is  granted  by  one  of  the  contracting  parties  to  another  nation  in 
exchange  for  some  boon  which  the  other  contracting  party  can 
not  give),  it  may  be  done  either  by  abolishing  all  extra  duties 
either  on  vessels  or  cargo  and  reciprocally  placing  the  vessels  of 
the  other  nation  on  the  same  footing  with  national  vessels,  in  the 
manner  which  had  been  proposed  by  Great  Britain,  or  by  fixing 
the  maximum  of  extra  duty  which  each  nation  shall  have  the 
right  to  impose  on  the  vessels  or  cargoes  of  the  other  nation. 
But  should  the  last  alternative  be  adopted,  care  must  be  taken, 
1st,  that  in  fixing  the  maximum  of  the  extra  duty  to  be  levied 
on  vessels,  all  charges  whatever  and  under  whatever  name  known, 
whether  tonnage,  light-house  money,  port  charges,  &c.,  shall  be 
included;  2dly,  that  the  maximum  of  the  extra  duty  to  be  levied 
on  merchandise  imported  in  the  vessels  of  the  other  nation 
(beyond  the  duties  levied  on  similar  articles  imported  in  the 
national  vessels)  shall  be  a  percentage  on  the  value  of  the  mer 
chandise  itself  and  not  on  the  original  duty;  3dly,  that  the  right 
of  imposing  such  maximum  duties  either  on  the  vessels  or  mer 
chandise  shall  never  be  exercised  so  as  to  contravene  the  other 
stipulation  of  enjoying  the  privileges  of  the  most  favored  nation ; 


286  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1806. 

4thly,  that  the  stipulation  shall  not  embrace  vessels  and  cargoes 
coming  from  or  going  to  ports  from  which  the  vessels  or  cargoes 
of  the  United  States  are  excluded. 

The  only  great  branch  of  commercial  intercourse  which  would 
remain  unprovided  for  is  that  of  intercourse  with  the  British 
colonies ;  and  if  nothing  can  be  obtained  on  that  ground,  care 
must  also  be  taken,  in  framing  the  article  of  reciprocally  enjoy 
ing  the  privileges  of  the  most  favored  nation,  not  to  deprive 
the  United  States  of  the  right  of  making  such  regulations  as 
they  may  think  proper  in  relation  to  vessels  coming  from  ports 
from  which  their  own  vessels  are  excluded,  or  in  relation  gen 
erally  to  the  intercourse  with  such  ports. 

As  the  United  States  confer  no  particular  benefit  on  the  Brit 
ish  possessions  in  the  East  Indies  by  their  intercourse  with  that 
country,  it  can  hardly  be  expected  that  Great  Britain  will  grant 
anything  more  than  the  general  stipulation  to  be  placed  on  the 
footing  of  the  most  favored  nations,  and  it  is  perhaps  prob 
lematical  whether  anything  more  is  very  desirable.  But,  as 
relates  to  the  West  Indies  and  North  American  colonies,  it  must 
be  a  permanent  object  of  the  United  States  policy  to  have  the 
intercourse  with  them  made  as  free  as  that  with  Europe.  The 
relative  situation  of  the  United  States  and  of  those  colonies, 
and  particularly  those  wants  which  we  can  alone  supply,  must 
necessarily  produce  that  effect  at  some  no  very  distant  period. 
And  it  should  not  be  voluntarily  retarded,  either  by  abandon 
ing  by  treaty  the  strong  hold  which  our  right  of  stopping  the 
intercourse  gives  us,  or  by  accepting  any  temporary  or  trifling 
privilege,  the  exercise  of  which  would  diminish  the  probability 
of  soon  obtaining  a  perfectly  free  trade. 

It  is  not  probable  that  Great  Britain  will  feel  disposed  to 
open  the  intercourse  to  our  vessels  with  her  North  American 
colonies ;  nor  does  it  appear  that  any  limitation  or  restriction 
can  be  offered  by  the  United  States  calculated  to  quiet  the  ap 
prehensions  of  Great  Britain  that  to  open  that  trade  to  our  ves 
sels  would  destroy  their  own.  I  do  not  perceive  that  anything 
else  can  be  proposed  but  perfect  reciprocity,  as  is  contemplated 
in  relation  to  the  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  the 
British  dominions  in  Europe ;  such  reciprocity  to  consist,  at  the 


1806.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  287 

option  of  Great  Britain,  either  of  a  total  abolition  of  extra 
duties  or  of  a  fixed  maximum,  as  above  stated ;  and  the  inter 
course  to  be  also  at  the  option  of  Great  Britain,  either  general 
or  confined  to  articles  of  the  growth,  produce,  or  manufacture 
of  the  United  States  and  of  the  said  colonies  respectively.  It 
must  not  be  forgotten,  as  relates  to  our  commerce  with  Nova 
Scotia  and  New  Brunswick,  that  however  advantageous  to  both 
parties,  it  is  more  necessary  and  more  beneficial  to  the  United 
States  than  to  those  colonies.  The  importance  of  not  less  than 
thirty,  perhaps  fifty  thousand  tons  of  plaster  to  our  agriculture 
needs  no  comment ;  and  notwithstanding  our  exclusion,  we  have, 
in  fact,  a  greater  share  of  their  carrying  trade  than  themselves. 
The  produce  of  their  fisheries  is  brought  by  them  from  Halifax 
to  Boston,  and  by  us  from  Boston  to  the  West  Indies.  Their 
plaster  is  brought  by  them  from  Bay  Fundy  to  Maine,  and 
by  us  from  Maine  to  New  York,  Philadelphia,  and  the  Chesa 
peake.  A  pitiful  jealousy  exists  between  the  shipping  interest 
of  Massachusetts  and  that  of  those  colonies.  Hence  the  wish 
of  their  legislative  assemblies  to  prohibit  the  exportation  of 
plaster  in  their  own  vessels  to  our  Eastern  ports ;  and  hence  the 
law  passed  on  Mr.  Crown  inshield's  motion,  which  laid  the  light 
house  money  tax  and  a  high  duty  on  their  fish,  taking  away  at 
the  same  time  the  drawback  on  the  re-exportation  of  such  fish. 
An  enlightened  policy  and  a  mutual  wish  to  promote  the  real 
interest  and  welfare  of  the  inhabitants  on  both  sides  should  in 
duce  both  governments  to  throw  the  trade  perfectly  open.  But 
it  cannot  be  denied  that  it  will  give  us  a  very  great  share  of 
their  carrying  trade. 

The  minimum  which,  in  my  opinion,  should  be  accepted  in 
relation  to  the  intercourse  with  the  West  Indies,  will  be  the  ad 
mission  of  our  vessels  laden  solely  with  articles  of  our  growth, 
produce,  or  manufacture,  the  importation  of  which  in  British 
vessels  is  not  prohibited,  on  same  terms  as  British  vessels  solely 
laden  with  the  colonial  articles  shall  be  admitted  in  our  ports ; 
that  is  to  say,  either  without  extra  duties  or  with  a  fixed  maxi 
mum  of  such  extra  duties,  with  the  two  following  restrictions : 
1st,  that  Great  Britain  may  prohibit  our  vessels  from  exporting 
from  the  British  West  India  Islands  in  sugar  and  coffee  more 


288  "WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1806. 

than  one-half  of  the  proceeds  of  their  inward  cargo ;  2dly,  that 
such  sugar  and  coffee  shall  be  exported  only  to  the  United  States, 
or  that  the  vessels  thus  admitted  in  the  West  Indies  shall  be 
obliged  to  return  and  land  their  cargoes  in  the  United  States, 
provided  they  may,  however,  on  their  return  touch  at  any  other 
West  India  island  or  Bahama,  in  order  to  complete  their  cargo. 
For  it  is  usual  to  carry  the  specie  which  proceeds  from  the  sale 
of  a  cargo  in  the  West  Indies  to  Turk's  Island  or  the  Bahama, 
and  there  load  with  salt  for  the  United  States.  Although  those 
restrictions,  and  particularly  the  first,  be  inconvenient,  yet  they 
may  be  acquiesced  in.  As  respects  the  last,  it  is  just  to  remove 
any  apprehension  that  our  vessels  might  become  carriers  of  Brit 
ish  West  India  produce  to  any  other  country  than  the  United 
States ;  and  as  it  relates  to  the  first,  the  value  of  our  average  ex- 
portations  to  the  British  West  India  Islands  being  six  millions 
of  dollars,  and  our  importation  from  thence  in  every  article 
(sugar  and  coifee  excepted)  being  three  millions  of  dollars, 
the  privilege  of  bringing  in  return  in  sugar  and  coffee  one-half 
of  the  value  of  our  exportation,  will  just  complete  the  return 
cargoes.  But  it  would  be  desirable  that  the  restrictions  should 
be  altogether  dispensed  with,  or  that  Great  Britain  should  allow 
the  exportation  in  those  two  articles  to  the  amount  of  f  or  j  of 
the  value  of  our  cargoes.  As  relates  to  Great  Britain,  if  she 
will  once  yield  the  point  of  admission,  the  restrictions  which 
are  proposed  seem  to  be  amply  sufficient  to  remove  her  minor 
objections.  We  now  import,  notwithstanding  the  nominal  pro 
hibitions,  to  some  amount  (about  one  million  and  half  dollars 
in  both  American  and  British  -vessels)  in  American  vessels.  The 
value  of  our  average  importations  from  all  the  world  is,  in  sugar 
7,800,000,  in  coffee  8,400,000,  or  more  than  sixteen  millions  of 
dollars.  The  value  of  our  annual  consumption,  exclusively  of 
the  New  Orleans  sugar,  is,  in  sugar  4,000,000,  in  coffee  1,500,000, 
or  5J  million  dollars.  To  permit  us  therefore  to  import  for  3 
millions  cannot  enable  us  to  re-export.  And  three  millions  of 
dollars,  compared  with  the  value  of  the  sugar  and  coffee  exported 
annually  from  the  British  West  Indies,  cannot  in  any  degree 
affect  their  own  commerce  or  navigation. 


1806.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  289 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  6th  January,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  three  letters  from  the  supervisor  of 
South  Carolina,  which  relate  in  part  to  a  bill  of  injunction  filed 
against  him,  at  the  instance,  as  I  understand,  of  William  Smith, 
the  former  member  of  Congress,  for  the  purpose  of  stopping  all 
proceedings  in  the  collection  of  the  direct  tax.  I  have  marked 
in  each  letter  the  paragraphs  which  relate  to  that  subject. 

This  is  quite  a  new  proceeding.  What  Judge  Bee  will  do,  no 
person  can  foresee.  But  if  a  district  judge  can,  on  motion  of 
individuals,  grant  an  injunction  or  issue  any  other  process  for 
bidding  generally  a  supervisor  or  collector  to  proceed  in  the 
execution  of  his  duties,  the  whole  of  our  revenue,  impost  as 
well  as  any  other,  is  at  the  mercy  of  any  evil-disposed  and  un 
principled  or  wrong-headed  judge.  The  novelty  of  the  attempt 
induced  me  to  wait  for  the  Attorney-General.  Something,  how 
ever,  must  be  done.  As  a  part  of  the  last  letter  of  the  super 
visor  embraces  some  propositions  to  amend  the  law,  I  may  send 
it  to  some  committee,  and  in  that  way  bring  the  subject  under 
the  notice  of  Congress. 

But  must  the  district  attorney  be  instructed  how  to  proceed  ? 
and  if  the  judge  shall  grant  the  injunction,  must  the  supervisor 
obey  it  and  cease  to  collect  ?  Those  are  questions  on  which  I 
request  the  favor  of  your  opinion,  if  you  do  not  think  it  proper 
to  give  any  positive  directions. 

Very  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

I  enclose  copy  of  my  answer  to  the  first  letter  of  the  super 
visor,  of  14th  July,  so  far  as  relates  to  that  point.  The  two  last, 
of  27th  October  and  19th  December,  are  yet  unanswered  on  that 
point. 


VOL.  i.— 20 


290  WRITINGS    OF    GALLlTIN.  1806. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  12th  February,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  return  Dunbar's  and  Cutting's  letters,  the 
Detroit  petition,  and  Davies's  letter. 

On  the  first  subject  no  other  answer  can  be  given  than  that  by 
law  every  article  is  liable  to  duty  except  philosophical  apparatus 
for  the  use  of  a  seminary  of  learning,  and  implements  of  trade. 
If  Cutting's  come  under  the  last  description,  they  are  exempted ; 
if  there  is  a  doubt,  he  may  appeal  from  the  collector  to  the  Comp 
troller.  But  as  models,  I  think  they  are  liable  to  duty.  Re 
peated  and  unsuccessful  efforts  have  been  made  to  extend  the 
exemptions  to  astronomical  instruments  generally,  to  books  im 
ported  for  colleges,  &c.  The  Detroit  memorial  is  badly  written, 
and  that  part  which  requests  Governor  Hull  to  be  made  a  com 
missioner  is  certainly  for  the  Executive  and  not  for  Congress. 
The  subject  will  be  in  a  few  days  before  them,  as  the  commis 
sioners  have  made  a  partial  report,  which  will  be  sent  as  soon  as 
transcribed.  But  there  is  no  objection  against  sending  the  me 
morial,  except  that  I  think  that  it  will  do  their  cause  more 
injury  than  good. 

Of  the  General  I  have  no  very  exalted  opinion ;  he  is  extrav 
agant  and  needy,  and  would  not,  I  think,  feel  much  delicacy  in 
speculating  on  public  money  or  public  land.  In  both  those  re 
spects  he  must  be  closely  watched ;  and  he  has  now  united  himself 
with  every  man  in  Louisiana  who  had  received  or  claims  large 
grants  under  the  Spanish  government  (Gratiot,  the  Chouteaus, 
Soulard,  &c.)  But,  though  not  perhaps  very  scrupulous  in  that 
respect,  and  although  I  fear  that  he  may  sacrifice  to  a  certain 
degree  the  interests  of  the  United  States  to  his  desire  of  being 
popular  in  his  government,  he  is  honorable  in  his  private  deal 
ings,  and  of  betraying  his  to  a  foreign  country  I  believe  him 
altogether  incapable.  Yet  -Ellicott's  information,  together  with 
this  hint,  may  induce  caution;  and  if  anything  can  be  done 
which  may  lead  to  discoveries  either  in  respect  to  him  or  others, 
it  would  seem  proper;  but  how  to  proceed  I  do  not  know. 

I  enclose  two  letteis  from  New  Orleans,  which,  as  they  are 


1806.  LETTERS,    ETC.  291 

not  yet  answered,  I  will  thank  you  to  return.  Although  the 
Attacapas  map  has  no  scale,  it  will  assist  in  correcting  ours. 
Congress  has  thrown  such  a  mass  of  business  on  me  by  their 
resolutions  for  information,  that  I  had  not  time  to  wait  on  you 
for  directions  on  the  Spanish  business.  I  have  not  seen  the 
bill,  but  merely  know  that  it  has  passed  both  Houses.  Is  it 
signed  ?  and  may  I  direct  an  immediate  purchase  of  one  million 
of  dollars  in  bills  on  Amsterdam  ?  As  soon  as  I  receive  your 
directions  on  that  point,  I  will  act  upon  it.  The  other  million 
must  be  borrowed  ;  but  I  must  see  the  Act  before  an  opinion  can 
be  formed  as  to  the  manner  of  doing  it. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 

We  still  want  a  third  land  commissioner  for  the  Opelousas  or 
Red  River  district.     Thompson  and  Vacher  are  the  only  two. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

February  24,  1806. 

For  exploring  the  waters  of  the  country  ceded  by  the  conven 
tion  with  France  of  April  30,  1803,  and  establishing  commerce 
with  the  Indian  nations  inhabiting  the  same,  5000  D. 

Th.  J.  proposes  to  Mr.  Gallatin  to  insert  into  his  appropriation 
law  the  above  article,  which  will  enable  us  to  undertake  the  next 
season  either  the  Arkansas  or  upper  part  of  the  Mississippi ;  and 
that  there  should  be  annually  a  like  appropriation  until  we  get 
all  the  principal  waters  laid  down  from  actual  survey. 


GALLATIN   TO    MADISON. 

March  1,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  the  rough  draft  of  an  article  for  Spain, 
which,  though  I  have  rejected  a  number  of  modifications,  con 
tains  in  fact  eight  distinct  modifications  or  plans,  viz. : 


292  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1806. 

1.  To  pay  two  millions  down,  one  million  twelve  months  after 
ratifications,  and  residue  to  claimants  under  convention. 

2.  Do.  do.  and  do.       to  Spain,  in  which  case  an  additional  arti 
cle  is  provided  for  paying  the  claimants  in  colonial  bills. 

3.  Do.  and  residue  to  claimants  under  convention. 

4.  Do.  and  do.         to  Spain,  with  provision  of  colonial  bills. 

5.  6,  7,  8.  To  pay  two  millions  after  ratification. 

The  modifications  1  and  2  are  on  the  supposition  that  Spain 
may  be  willing  to  allow  a  sum  to  the  claimants  less  than  the 
whole  residue  after  paying  her  the  two  first  millions. 

I  think  that  if  left  to  myself  the  proposition  to  take  colonial 
bills  for  the  spoliations  instead  of  deducting  the  amount  of  those 
spoliations  from  the  purchase-money  would  be  considered  as  in 
admissible.  At  all  events,  I  hope  that  it  may  not  be  resorted 
to  but  as  an  ultimatum  and  in  case  of  absolute  necessity;  and 
you  will  perceive  that  I  have  omitted  altogether  the  proposition 
of  taking  anything  short  of  colonial  bills,  or,  in  other  words,  of 
paying  Spain  in  full  and  leaving  our  merchants  to  the  mercy  of 
a  commission  and  to  the  chance  of  being  paid  by  Spain. 

As  the  subject  is  complex,  I  will  recapitulate  some  points  rela 
tive  to  the  Treasury  to  which  the  negotiators  should  particularly 
attend. 

1.  Payments  in   specie  must  not  be  stipulated  beyond  two 
millions  of  dollars  unless  it  shall  be  found  necessary  to  accept 
for  spoliations  a  sum  less  than  the  residue ;  in  which  case  the 
difference,  say  one  million,  which  shall  then  be  payable  to  Spain, 
may  be  stipulated  to  be  paid  in  specie,  but  not  sooner  than  twelve 
months  after  the  exchange  of  ratifications. 

2.  The  payments  in  specie  must,  exclusively  of  the  million  for 
which  credit  shall  be  given  in  Holland  to  our  negotiators,  be 
made  in  bills  of  the  ministers  of  the  United  States  at  Paris  or 
Madrid,  and  at  different  sights,  so  that  the  payments  shall  not 
at  once  fall  upon  us. 

3.  If  the  million  now  provided  for  in  Amsterdam  shall  not 
be  used  immediately,  it  must  not  be  counted  upon  for  future 
payments,  as  we  will  apply  it  in  a  different  way  before  the  ex 
change  of  ratifications  can  take  place. 

4.  For  any  payment  in  Amsterdam,  either  of  that  million  or 


1806.  LETTERS,    ETC.  293 

of  interest  on  stock  to  be  created,  the  rate  of  exchange  must  be 
fixed,  and  not  to  be  more  unfavorable  to  the  United  States  than 
par,  or  one  current  guilder  of  Holland  for  every  forty  cents. 

5.  Any  stock  to  be  created  must  be  of  the  description  stated  in 
the  article, — that  is  to  say,  six  per  cent., — and  the  principal  at  least 
payable  in  America,  and  not  irredeemable  for  a  period  longer 
than  four  years.     It  would  be  better  that  the  interest  should  be 
payable  also  in  America,  and  the  principal  redeemable  abso 
lutely  at  will. 

6.  Payments  by  the  United  States  for  spoliations  must  be 
provided  in  three  annual  instalments. 

As  the  importance  of  the  second  point  may  not  be  perceived,  it 
is  proper  to  state  that  a  payment  in  bills  drawn  on  the  Treasury 
prevents  both  the  inconvenience  of  making  provision  for  payments 
abroad  and  the  exportation  of  specie,  as  in  the  case  of  the  provi 
sion  for  paying  200,000  sterling  to  Great  Britain.  For  when  bills 
are  given  they  are  negotiated,  come  to  America  through  the  usual 
commercial  channels  and  as  remittances,  so  as  to  produce  no  kind 
of  inconvenience. 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSOX. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  llth  March,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — A  general  expectation  seems  to  prevail  that 
Colonel  Smith  will  be  removed  from  the  office  of  surveyor  of 
the  port  of  New  York,  and  I  am  asked  by  almost  every  one 
whether  it  is  not  already  done.  Mr.  Madison,  who  seems  to 
coincide  in  the  opinion  that  he  ought  to  be  removed,  informed 
me  that  you  had  expressed  a  doubt  whether  conviction  ought  not 
to  precede  the  removal.  I  must  confess  that  it  seems  to  me  that, 
as  the  facts  are  as  fully  in  the  possession  of  the  Executive  at  this 
time  as  they  will  be  after  the  trial,  and  as,  indeed,  such  of  them 
as  rest  on  his  own  evidence  cannot  be  brought  against  him  in  a 
criminal  prosecution,  it  is  not  necessary,  if  those  facts  are  con 
sidered  a  just  cause  of  removal,  to  wait  the  event  of  such  pros 
ecution.  The  honor  of  government  and  the  peace  of  the  country 
seem  to  require  an  explicit  mark  of  disapprobation  and  disavowal, 


294  WETTINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1806. 

and  retaining  in  public  service  an  officer  who,  by  his  own  declara 
tion,  has  been  guilty  of  an  outrage  against  the  law  of  nations 
which  endangers  the  peace  of  his  country,  and  of  a  direct  viola 
tion  of  a  positive  statute,  will  be  considered  by  Spain  and  France 
as  an  evidence  of  our  connivance,  and  impede  the  intended 
negotiations.  Nor  does  it  appear  to  me  that  Colonel  Smith's 
plea,  that  he  was  induced  to  believe  from  Miranda's  repre 
sentations  that  government  did  not  disapprove  the  expedition, 
can  be  adduced  even  in  extenuation  of  the  offence.  Not  only 
is  it  evident  that  his  former  connections  with  Miranda,  and 
hopes  of  private  advantages  for  his  son  or  for  himself,  were  his 
motives  of  action,  but  he  acknowledges  that  even  Miranda  had 
not  presumed  to  hint  that  government  authorized  or  approved 
such  an  expedition,  but,  on  the  contrary,  told  him  that  he  was 
cautioned  not  to  commit  any  illegal  act.  Supposing  Colonel 
Smith  to  have  been  induced  in  error  by  Miranda's  misrepresenta 
tions,  it  would  be  no  justification  of  an  illegal  act;  but  when  he 
expressly  declares  that  he  was  not  deceived  on  that  point,  and 
then  avows  that  he  enlisted  and  caused  to  be  enlisted  a  num 
ber  of  men,  does  it  not  amount  to  a  full  acknowledgment  that 
he  committed  the  illegal  act,  knowing  at  the  same  time  that 
government  disapproved  the  same  ? 

To  this  may  be  added  that,  abusing  the  confidence  which 
attached  to  his  official  character,  he  persuaded  Fink  to  enlist  men 
as  for  the  service  of  the  United  States,  and  that  as  one  of  the 
officers  of  the  customs  it  was  his  duty  to  report  to  the  collector 
every  circumstance  respecting  the  armament  and  cargo  within  his 
knowledge.  Indeed,  it  does  not  appear  possible  that  the  private 
lading  of  cannon  and  military  stores,  and  the  other  illegal  parts 
of  the  armament,  could  have  been  effected  without  his  connivance 
and  assistance.  They  would,  otherwise,  have  come  to  the  knowl 
edge  of  the  collector;  and  the  fitting  out  of  the  expedition,  and 
preserving  the  secret  till  after  the  vessel's  departure,  may  fairly 
be  ascribed  by  Spain  to  the  agency  of  our  own  officer.  Why, 
with  the  fullest  proof  of  these  facts,  have  you  continued  the 
guilty  officer  in  service?  will  be  a  natural  question  for  her  to 
ask.  I  may  add  that  Colonel  Smith  is  a  bad  officer ;  that  he  does 
not  attend  to  the  duties  of  his  office ;  that  he  has  presented  falla- 


1806.  LETTERS,    ETC.  295 

cious  statements  of  his  emoluments,  with  intention  of  keeping  a 
portion  which  by  law  ought  to  be  paid  in  the  Treasury,  and  that 
he  has  not  even  paid  what  he  acknowledged  to  be  due.  I  know 
that  the  delicacy  of  removing,  under  all  circumstances,  a  near 
connection  of  the  late  President  of  the  United  States  made  you 
anxious  to  overlook  every  inferior  breach  of  duty  in  that  officer; 
and  those  are  now  mentioned  only  to  show  that  he  is  not  entitled 
from  his  general  official  conduct  to  any  special  indulgence.  Ex 
cuse  the  length  of  this  letter;  I  only  intended  to  suggest  the 
subject  to  you ;  but  my  knowledge  of  the  general  opinion,  and 
my  own  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  the  measure,  have  drawn 
me  into  a  longer  discussion  than  was  necessary. 

I  had  intended  to  call  on  you  to-day  on  that  and  some  other 
subjects,  but  was  so  unwell  that  I  could  not  leave  home. 

With  great  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIX   TO   G.  CLINTON,  JR.,  M.C. 

WASHINGTON,  April  5,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — Some  expressions  which  fell  on  the  floor  of  Con 
gress  have  given  rise  to  an  inquiry  into  a  conversation  between 
you  and  one  of  your  colleagues  and  myself.  It  has  been  reported 
that  I  had  in  that  conversation  stated  that  previous  to  the  meet 
ing  of  Congress,  or  previous  to  an  appropriation  being  made,  it 
was  proposed  by  the  Executive  or  by  the  Secretary  of  State  to 
draw  from  the  Treasury  and  remit  to  Europe  the  two  millions 
of  dollars  intended  fora  partial  payment  of  Florida.  I  do  not 
recollect  any  conversation  with  you  on  the  subject  which  may 
have  given  rise  to  the  report,  nor  do  I  know  the  name  of  your 
colleague  alluded  to.  But  as  I  have  had  free  conversation  with 
you  on  our  public  affairs,  and  did,  I  believe,  explain  what  had 
been  and  were  the  precise  views  of  the  Executive  in  relation  to 
Spanish  negotiations  and  the  intended  purchase  of  Florida,  it 
is  very  probable  that  I  did  state  the  facts  which,  as  I  presume, 
have  been  misunderstood  by  your  colleague  and  given  rise  to 
the  report.  I  am  certain,  however,  that  I  did  not  state  the  facts 


296  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1800. 

otherwise  than  as  they  really  were,  and  that  I  never  said  that 
an  application  or  attempt  was  made  to  draw  from  the  Treasury 
and  remit  the  money  without  an  appropriation,  because  no  such 
application  or  proposition  was  ever  made  or  suggested,  either 
by  the  Secretary  of  State  or  by  any  other  person. 

The  facts  were  briefly  as  followeth.  Some  time  before  the 
meeting  of  Congress  it  was  proposed,  as  time  was  precious,  to 
give  immediate  instructions  to  Mr.  Armstrong  to  treat,  and  it 
was  at  the  same  time  suggested  that  a  payment  in  hand,  without 
waiting  for  a  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and  made  on  receiving 
an  order  for  the  delivery  of  the  country,  would  promote  the 
object,  and  might  be  promised  by  Mr.  Armstrong,  inasmuch  as 
an  appropriation  would  be  obtained  from  Congress  within  a 
short  time,  so  as  to  be  able  to  remit  the  money  before  powers 
could  be  obtained  from  Spain  to  treat  at  Paris,  and  before  the 
negotiations  could  be  terminated.  To  this  it  was  objected  by 
myself  that  although  the  assent  of  Congress  was  probable  it 
was  not  certain,  that  it  might  consume  more  time  to  obtain  it 
than  was  expected,  and  that  it  would  be  safer  to  wait  for  it  than 
to  run  the  risk  of  pledging  government  for  a  payment  which  it 
might  not  be  in  their  power  to  make.  Some  general  observations 
were  added  tending  to  show  that  it  was  at  all  events  more  eli 
gible  to  ascertain  the  sense  of  Congress  before  the  subject  was 
attempted  in  Europe,  as,  on  the  one  hand,  if  that  body  appeared 
disposed  in  favor  of  the  measure,  a  previous  sanction  might  be 
obtained  which  would  secure  the  ratification  of  the  treaty,  and 
if  they  did  not  like  the  plan  another  course  might  be  pursued. 
The  President  after  consideration  concluded  to  suspend  the  in 
structions  and  to  lay  the  subject  before  Congress,  which  was 
accordingly  done. 

Such  are  the  facts,  which  I  do  not  remember  to  have  mentioned 
to  you  in  whole  or  in  part,  but  which  I  may  certainly  have  stated, 
because  they  are  true,  and  did  not  appear  to  me,  the  whole  sub 
ject  being  confidentially  before  Congress,  to  require  any  conceal 
ment.  If  they  made  a  different  impression  on  the  hearers,  I 
repeat  that  it  must  have  been  a  misapprehension. 

Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  let  me  know  what  was  your 
impression  of  that  conversation,  and  whether  it  agrees  with  the 


1806.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  297 

above  statement?  but  be  pleased  to  consider  this  letter,  and  par 
ticularly  the  statement  of  facts,  as  perfectly  confidential. 

I  remain  with  great  regard  and  respect,  dear  sir,  your  obedient 
servant. 

P.S. — I  have  not  heard  that  you  had  ever  repeated  any  part  of 
the  conversation,  or  by  any  expressions  of  yours  given  rise  to  the 
report,  but  have  only  been  mentioned  as  being  present. 


GEORGE   CLINTON,  JR.  TO   GALLATIN. 

NEW  YORK,  April  10,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  received  your  letter  yesterday,  and,  after  en 
deavoring  to  recollect  any  conversation  which  may  have  taken 
place  between  us  during  the  pendency  of  the  secret  business  of 
Congress,  I  do  myself  the  honor  to  communicate  the  impression 
produced  on  my  mind.  This  impression  may  be  erroneous,  and 
if  it  varies  from  the  real  facts,  must  be  admitted  to  be  so.  I 
think  one  of  my  colleagues  was  present.  I  had  doubts  of  the 
propriety  of  voting  for  the  bill  appropriating  two  millions  for 
the  purchase  of  Florida,  and  wished  to  know  what  prospect  of 
success  government  had  from  the  negotiation.  You,  with  that 
frankness  which  I  have  always  experienced  from  you,  said  that 
Mr.  Armstrong  had  sanguine  hopes,  and  that  government  were 
induced  to  think  that  an  immediate  appropriation  of  money  would 
have  a  happy  effect ;  but  as  that  could  not  be  procured  previous 
to  the  meeting  of  Congress,  it  might  be  advisable'  that  our  min 
ister  at  Paris  should  be  instructed  to  pledge  the  faith  of  the 
government  for  the  sum  of  two  millions,  as  no  doubt  could  be 
entertained  that  Congress  would  sanction  the  measure.  That 
instructions  of  this  kind  were  directed  to  be  made  out  for  Mr. 
Armstrong,  and  that  Mr.  Madison  wished  you  to  prepare  bills 
for  the  money ;  but  that  on  further  consideration  the  government 
concluded  that  it  would  not  be  prudent  to  hazard  the  measure, 
but  to  wait  for  the  meeting  of  Congress.  This,  sir,  is  the  im 
pression  which  the  conversation  made  on  my  mind.  Part  of  it 


298  WRITINGS    OP     GAL-LATIN.  1806. 

may  be  erroneous.  If  so,  it  would  give  me  the  greatest  pleasure 
to  have  it  corrected.  I  entirely  exonerate  you  from  any  design 
in  the  communication  to  impeach  any  member  of  the  Adminis 
tration,  but  am  confident  that  your  sole  object  was  to  throw  light 
on  the  subject  then  before  Congress  and  to  promote  the  views  of 
the  government. 

I  am  sorry  that  my  name  should  have  been  used  on  the  occa 
sion,  and,  whoever  of  my  colleagues  has  done  so,  it  has  been 
entirely  unauthorized  by  me. 

[Endorsement  by  Mr.  Gallatin.] 

There  is  an  error  in  this.  Mr.  Clinton  has  confounded  with 
respect  to  time  two  distinct  facts.  The  proposed  instructions  to 
Mr.  Armstrong  were  under  consideration  and  abandoned  prior 
to  the  meeting  of  Congress.  Mr.  Madison's  request  to  give 
orders  to  purchase  bills  was  made  when  it  had  been  ascertained 
that  an  Act  of  Congress  would  pass  within  less  than  a  week 
authorizing  the  expense,  and  the  very  day  on  which  Mr.  Clinton 
called  on  me  on  the  subject.  The  fact  was  mentioned  in  answer 
to  the  inquiry  whether  government  were  really  anxious  for  the 
appropriation,  and  as  an  evidence  of  their  earnestness  at  that 
very  moment.  Mr.  Masters  was  the  member  present.  It  is  the 
only  conversation  I  had  with  either  on  the  subject. 


GALLATIN  TO  THE  SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  15th  April,  1806. 

SIR, — In  answer  to  the  request  contained  in  the  resolution  of 
the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  8th  inst,  I  have  the  honor 
respectfully  to  state  that "  no  application  has  been  made  to  draw 
money  from  the  Treasury  for  the  purchase  of  the  Floridas  before 
an  appropriation  made  by  law  for  that  purpose." 

The  circumstances  which  may  have  produced  an  impression 
that  such  an  application  had  been  made,  being  unconnected  with 
any  matter  pertaining  to  the  duties  of  the  office  of  Secretary  of 


1806.  LETTERS,    ETC.  299 

the  Treasury,  are  not  presumed  to  come  within  the  scope  of  the 
information  received  from  this  Department  by  the  House. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  19th  May,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  been  detained  till  this  day  by  business 
connected  with  the  Acts  of  last  session,  which  could  not  be 
delayed  till  after  my  return.  This  compels  us  to  postpone  our 
intended  visit  to  Monticello,  as  I  have  hardly  time,  before  the 
13th  June,  when  I  must  necessarily  be  here,  to  go  home  and 
transact  some  indispensable  business,  not  having  been  there  these 
three  years.  Mrs.  Gallatin  and  myself  equally  regret  the  dis 
appointment,  and  she  requests  to  be  affectionately  remembered 
to  Mrs.  Randolph. 

Not  a  single  occurrence  has  taken  place  connected  with  the 
Treasury  Department  which  is  worth  communicating. 

Supposing  the  purchase  of  Florida  not  to  be  attainable,  could 
not  our  ministers  be  provisionally  instructed  to  agree  to  some 
kind  of  convention  on  the  basis  of  statu  quo  without  affecting 
the  claims  of  the  parties,  of  the  reciprocal  freedom  of  naviga 
tion  of  the  Mobile  and  of  the  Mississippi  to  Baton  Rouge,  and 
of  a  ratification  of  the  convention  ? 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

June  15,  1806. 


Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

On  the  27th  of  April  I  wrote  to  Governor  Claiborne  in  these 
words :  "  Congress  has  permitted  lots  to  be  taken  for  M.  de  la 
Fayette  as  low  as  500  acres.  This  secures  to  us  the  parcel  on 
the  canal  of  Carondelet;  but  at  the  same  time  cuts  off  those 


300  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN".  1806. 

smaller  locations  proposed  by  M.  Duplantier.  Indeed,  it  would 
not  be  for  the  interest  of  the  General  to  let  his  claim  get  into 
collision  with  any  public  interest.  Were  it  to  lose  its  popularity 
it  might  excite  an  opposition  neither  agreeable  to  his  feelings  or 
interests."  This  may  already  have  produced  some  effect  towards 
abating  the  expectations  of  M.  Duplantier  and  the  fears  of  the 
city.  Still,  I  think  it  better  that  Mr.  Madison  should  write 
explicitly  to  him.  Indeed,  I  think  we  had  better  have  a  consul 
tation,  and  determine  on  the  proper  limits  of  the  public  reserva 
tion.  For,  however  justifiably  desirous  we  may  be  to  relieve  a 
man  who  stands  so  high  in  the  public  affection  as  La  Fayette, 
still,  it  should  be  only  by  granting  to  him  such  lands  as  would 
be  granted  to  others  if  not  located  by  him.  The  idea  of  consoli 
dating  by  getting  Suarez's  land  was  to  satisfy  the  limit  of  1000 
acres  then  imposed  on  him,  while  others  would  have  been  free 
to  have  taken  these  smaller  parcels.  That  idea  may  now  be 
waived. 

"With  respect  to  Colonel  Newton's  inquiries  what  measures 
are  to  be  taken  with  armed  vessels  coming  into  that  harbor,  I 
think  he  may  be  told  to  go  on  as  wre  have  done  until  further 
orders.  These  ought  not  to  be  given  till  we  have  gunboats 
there  to  enforce  them.  Then  I  shall  be  for  an  exact  police  over 
these  vessels.  Should  we  not  by  special  letters  keep  the  collectors 
on  the  alert  as  to  the  three  proscribed  vessels  and  commanders  ? 
It  is  very  desirable  to  get  hold  of  Whitby.  Affectionate  saluta 
tions. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

June  19,  180G. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  have  had  a  consultation  with  Mr.  Madison  on  the  applica 
tion  of  the  British  vessel  of  war  for  stores.  We  are  both  of 
opinion  that  if  by  this  term  be  meant  sea-stores  only,  or  even 
munitions  de  bouche,  or  provisions  generally,  there  can  be  no 
objection  to  their  taking  them,  or  indeed  anything  except  contra 
band  of  ivar.  But  what  should  be  deemed  contraband  of  war 


1800.  LETTERS,    ETC.  301 

in  this  case  we  are  not  agreed.  He  thinks  that  as  the  English 
deem  naval  stores  to  be  contraband,  and  as  such  take  them  from 
our  vessels  at  sea,  we  ought  to  retaliate  their  own  definition  on 
them.  I  think  we  ought  to  act  on  the  opinion  that  they  are  not 
contraband ;  because  by  treaties  between  all  the  nations  (I  think) 
having  treaties  with  one  another  they  are  agreed  not  to  be  contra 
band  ;  even  England  herself,  with  every  nation  but  ours,  makes 
them  non-contraband,  and  the  only  treaty  making  them  contra 
band  (Jay's)  is  now  expired.  We  ought  then  at  once  to  rally 
with  all  the  other  nations  on  the  ground  that  they  are  non-contra 
band  ;  and  if  England  treats  them  as  contraband  in  our  ships, 
instead  of  admitting  it  by  retaliation,  let  us  contest  it  on  its  true 
ground.  Mr.  M.  thinks  France  might  complain  of  this ;  but  I 
think  not,  as  we  shall  permit  both  nations  equally  to  take  naval 
stores ;  or  at  least  such  articles  of  them  as  may  be  used  for  peace 
able  as  well  as  warlike  purposes;  this  being  the  true  line.  This 
therefore  becomes  a  question  on  which  it  will  be  advisable  for  us 
soon  to  come  to  a  fixed  determination.  In  the  mean  time,  it  will 
be  better  to  leave  the  construction  of  the  term  to  Mr.  Gelston,  by 
not  defining  the  term  to  him,  because  any  error  of  his  will  be 
easily  got  over.  Affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON  TO  GALLATIN. 

June  26,  1806. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

The  Attorney-General  being  absent,  we  must  decide  for  our 
selves  the  question  raised  by  Colonel  Newton's  letter,  whether 
Mr.  Cooper  can  own  a  registered  vessel?  or,  in  other  words, 
whether  he  is  a  citizen  of  the  United  States  ? 

I  hold  the  right  of  expatriation  to  be  inherent  in  every  man 
by  the  laws  of  nature,  and  incapable  of  being  rightfully  taken 
from  him  even  by  the  united  will  of  every  other  person  in  the 
nation.  If  the  laws  have  provided  no  particular  mode  by  which 
the  right  of  expatriation  may  be  exercised,  the  individual  may 
do  it  by  any  effectual  and  unequivocal  act  or  declaration.  The 
laws  of  Virginia  have  provided  a  mode ;  Mr.  Cooper  is  said  to 


302  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1806. 

have  exercised  his  right  solemnly  and  exactly  according  to  that 
mode,  and  to  have  departed  from  the  Commonwealth ;  whereupon 
the  law  declares  that  "  he  shall  thenceforth  be  deemed  no  citizen." 
Returning  afterwards  he  returns  an  alien,  and  must  proceed  to 
make  himself  a  citizen  if  he  desires  it,  as  every  other  alien 
does.  At  present  he  can  hold  no  lands,  receive  nor  transmit  any 
inheritance,  nor  enjoy  any  other  right  peculiar  to  a  citizen. 

The  general  government  has  nothing  to  do  with  this  question. 
Congress  may  by  the  Constitution  "  establish  an  uniform  rule 
of  naturalization,"  that  is,  by  what  rule  an  alien  may  become  a 
citizen.  But  they  cannot  take  from  a  citizen  his  natural  right 
of  divesting  himself  of  the  character  of  a  citizen  by  expatriation. 


GALLATIN  TO   NATHAN  SANDFORD,  DISTRICT  ATTORNEY,  N.   Y. 

Private. 

WASHINGTON,  9th  July,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  not  been  summoned  as  a  witness  in  the 
prosecution  against  AV.  S.  Smith  and  Ogden ;  it  is  probable  that 
this  was  owing  to  my  temporary  absence  when  the  gentleman 
who  brought  the  subpoenas  was  here,  as  the  three  other  Secretaries 
have  been  duly  summoned."  Momentary  considerations  and  par 
ticularly  applicable  to  the  case  in  question  might  have  induced 
a  compliance  with  the  summons,  but,  exclusively  of  the  reasons 
arising  from  the  situation  of  our  public  affairs  which  would 
render  the  absence  of  those  three  gentlemen  prejudicial  to  the 
public  interest  at  this  juncture,  the  precedent  was  on  general 
grounds  considered  as  dangerous.  Not  that  any  exception  or 
privilege  be  claimed  for  the  heads  of  Departments,  but  because 
the  principle  once  admitted  that  they  must,  on  a  subpoena  which 
issues  as  a  matter  of  course,  attend  in  any  part  of  the  United 
States,  every  person  charged  with  a  criminal  offence  would  have 
it  in  his  power  to  vex  if  not  to  arrest  the  whole  Administration, 
or  to  put  off  his  trial  to  an  indefinite  period. 

Under  those  impressions  a  letter  has  been  addressed  to  court, 
of  which  I  enclose  a  duplicate  and  a  press  copy.  The  duplicate 


1806.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  303 

you  are  requested  to  deliver  sealed,  only  in  case  the  original 
should  not  have  reached  the  court.  The  copy  is  for  your  private 
information,  and  it  is  desirable  that  it  should  be  published  as  if 
the  copy  had  been  obtained  in  court.  I  wish  that  in  that  case 
a  note  may  be  added  stating  that  a  subpoena  had  issued  for  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury  (supposing  that  to  be  the  fact),  but 
that  owing  to  his  absence  it  was  not  served. 

The  course  which  the  court  may  pursue  is  uncertain ;  it  appears 
impossible  that  they  should  issue  attachments ;  they  may  either 
rule  the  parties  to  immediate  trial  or  postpone  it  till  their  next 
sitting,  and  in  the  last  case  either  let  new  subpoenas  come  out, 
or,  with  the  assent  of  the  parties,  order  that  the  evidence  of  the 
heads  of  Departments  be  taken  by  commission,  as  suggested  in 
the  letter. 

It  appears  consistent  with  the  soundest  principles  of  law  that 
no  further  postponement  should  take  place,  unless  the  parties 
shall  state  in  an  affidavit  not  merely  that  a  certain  material 
witness  is  absent,  but  the  identical  facts  which  they  expect  to 
prove  by  such  witness  or  witnesses.  As  no  doubt  can  exist  that, 
supposing  the  facts  heretofore  alleged  to  be  true,  they  cannot  be 
pled  in  justification,  but  would  only,  if  at  all  operative,  tend 
to  mitigate  the  punishment,  it  follows  that  if  that  course  be  pur 
sued,  the  court  will,  on  seeing  the  affidavit,  order  them  to  im 
mediate  trial,  on  the  ground  that  the  evidence  they  want  is 
irrelevant.  In  urging  that  point,  it  cannot,  amongst  other  topics, 
have  escaped  you  that  the  letters  said  to  have  been  written  by 
Miranda  to  the  President  and  to  Mr.  Madison  cannot  in  any 
point  of  view  operate  in  favor  of  Smith  and  Ogden,  since  they 
were  avowedly  written  subsequent  to  the  acts  for  which  they  are 
now  prosecuted. 

But  should  the  court  be  willing  to  grant  the  parties  a  further 
delay,  every  effort  must  be  used  to  obtain  a  commission  for  the 
purpose  of  taking  the  evidence  of  the  heads  of  Departments, 
and  perhaps  of  other  distant  witnesses.  And  if  the  parties  shall 
refuse  to  assent  to  that  course,  their  refusal  may,  jointly  with 
the  irrelevancy  of  the  testimony,  be  urged  in  favor  of  their 
being  brought  to  immediate  trial.  If  a  commission  is  issued, 
particular  care  will  be  necessary  in  framing  the  interrogatories ; 


304  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1806. 

and  it  would  be  well  previously  to  agree  with  the  opposite  counsel 
that  in  case  of  disagreement  between  you  and  him  respecting 
the  propriety  of  any  of  them,  the  court  should  decide. 

The  sooner  such  commission  issues  the  more  convenient  it  will 
be  for  the  gentlemen  who  had  been  summoned.  It  is  probable 
that  the  public  duties  of  the  Secretary  of  State  will  permit  him 
to  go  to  his  farm  in  Virginia  about  the  25th  instant,  and  it 
would  be  inconvenient  for  him  to  return  here  for  the  purpose 
of  being  examined.  General  Dearborn,  who  is  just  recovering 
from  a  dangerous  illness,  and  who,  on  that  account,  would  have 
at  all  events  been  unable  to  travel  to  New  York  this  week,  may 
wish,  as  soon  as  he  is  able,  to  go  to  the  country  for  the  sake  of 
his  health.  As  to  myself,  I  have  not  yet  determined  where  I 
will  spend  the  latter  end  of  this  month  and  the  month  of  August. 
I  have  arranged  the  Treasury  business  so  as  to  be  able  to  be 
absent  from  the  15th  instant  to  the  1st  of  September,  and  the 
sickness  of  one  of  my  children  will  induce  me  to  leave  this  city 
as  soon  as  I  can.  It  is  not  therefore  probable  that  a  commission 
will  find  me  here ;  but  one  may  be  appointed  in  New  York,  where 
it  is  possible,  though  not  certain,  that  I  may  be  in  August.  If 
commissioners  be  appointed  in  both  places,  I  will  engage  to  attend 
either  one  or  the  other  commission.  My  evidence  must,  how 
ever,  even  in  the  view  of  Messrs.  Smith  and  Ogden,  be  altogether 
irrelevant.  I  never  saw  Miranda  or  had  any  direct  or  indirect 
communications  with  him.  Of  others  I  know  nothing  but  by 
hearsay,  and  that  of  no  importance  nor  connected  at  all  with  the 
prosecutions. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

July  14,  1806. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

A  law  of  the  last  session  provided  for  making  a  road  from 
Nashville  to  Natchez,  and  another  from  -  Cincinnati,  by  Yin- 
cennes,  to  St.  Louis.  Not  having  a  copy  of  the  laws  yet,  I  do 
not  know  whether  it  is  necessary  for  me  to  take  any  steps  on 
this  subject  at  present,  or  what  it  waits  for.  Can  you  inform  me? 

The  road  from  Cumberland  to  Ohio  will  be  an  important 


1806.  LETTERS,    ETC.  305 

link  in  the  line  to  St.  Louis.  There  will  still  be  wanting  a 
supplement  from  Ohio  (suppose  Marietta)  by  Chillicothe  to 
Cincinnati,  or  do  such  roads  exist  already?  This  line  being 
completed,  we  must  have  a  horse-post  which  will  effect  it  in  six 
days,  say  from  Washington  to  St.  Louis.  They  are  distant  not 
quite  13°  of  longitude  of  46f  miles  each,  say  600  miles;  and 
a  mail  ought  to  go  every  day  as  much  over  100  miles  as  the 
necessary  deviations  from  a  straight  line  amount  to. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  7th  August,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  arrived  here  last  Sunday,  and,  finding  both  the 
Vice-President  and  De  Witt  Clinton  out  of  town,  was  obliged  to 
rely  principally  on  Mr.  Sandford  for  the  appointment  of  mar 
shal.  A  man  perfectly  competent  and  in  every  respect  proper, 
Mr.  Montagnie,  was  first  selected,  but  refused  the  appointment. 
Peter  Curtenius  appeared,  amongst  those  who  were  proposed, 
the  next  best,  and  has  accordingly  received  the  commission.  He 
is  a  man  of  integrity,  independent,  and  has  for  the  three  or  four 
last  years  been  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature;  which  last 
test  of  public  confidence  seemed  the  best  testimony  on  which  to 
rely.  I  never  saw  the  man,  but  from  information  understand 
that  he  has  a  sound  judgment  and  much  firmness,  but  no  brilliancy 
of  talents.  I  regretted  less  the  absence  of  the  Vice-President 
on  hearing  that  lie  would  have  recommended  young  Lamb,  who 
lives  out  of  the  city,  has  never  been  in  public  life,,  and  had  no 
claim  but  the  Revolutionary  services  of  his  father,  the  former 
delinquent  collector  of  this  port. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  the  district  attorney  on  the  subject  of  the 
trials,  which  was  returned  from  Washington.1  So  far  as  I  can 
judge,  no  unfavorable  impression  has  been  made  on  the  Repub 
licans  of  this  city  either  on  account  of  the  non-attendance  of  the 
heads  of  Departments,  or  of  the  assertions  of  the  Federalists 

1  The  trials  of  Smith  and  Ogden  for  abetting  the  expedition  of  Miranda. 
VOL.  i.— 21 


306  WHITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1806. 

respecting  the    supposed   knowledge    and  approbation   of  the 
expedition  by  the  Executive. 

It  seems  to  me,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  verdict  of  acquittal, 
being  so  glaringly  contrary  to  law  and  evidence,  begins  to  recoil 
against  the  party  who  promoted  that  event. 

A  recommendation  for  the  appointment  of  a  master  of  revenue 
cutter  at  Savannah  is  enclosed. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  15,  1806. 

Th.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

Yours  of  the  7th  was  received  yesterday;  and  I  have  this 
day  enclosed  Mr.  Sandford's  letter  to  Mr.  Madison  for  perusal 
and  to  be  forwarded  by  him  to  you.  The  skill  and  spirit  with 
which  Mr.  Sandford  and  Mr.  Edwards  conducted  the  prosecution 
give  perfect  satisfaction,  nor  am  I  dissatisfied  with  the  result. 
I  had  no  wish  to  see  Smith  imprisoned ;  he  has  been  a  man  of 
integrity  and  honor,  led  astray  by  distress.  Ogden  was  too  small 
an  insect  to  excite  any  feelings.  Palpable  cause  for  removal  of 
the  marshal  has  been  furnished,  for  which  good  though  less 
evident  cause  existed  before,  and  we  have  shown  our  tenderness 
towards  judicial  proceedings  in  delaying  his  removal  till  these 
were  ended.  We  have  done  our  duty,  and  I  have  no  fear  the 
world  will,  do  us  justice.  All  is  well  therefore. 

I  approve  of  the  appointment  of  Thos.  Fowler  to  command 
the  cutter  at  Savannah,  and  wish  you  to  direct  the  commission 
accordingly.  There  was  a  recommendation  of  a  Mr.  Newell 
under  favorable  circumstances;  but  that  of  Fowler  is  more 
weighty.  Mr.  R.  S.  has  had  a  commission  given  to  Eli  Williams 
as  commissioner  of  the  Western  road.  I  am  sorry  he  has  gone 
out  of  Baltimore  for  the  appointment,  and  also  out  of  the  ranks 
of  Republicanism.  It  will  furnish  new  matter  for  clamor.  I 
set  out  to  my  possessions  in  Bedford  in  a  day  or  two,  and  shall 
be  absent  ten  days.  This  may  explain  delays  in  answering  your 


1806.  LETTEKS,     ETC.  307 

communications,  should  any  occur.  The  effects  of  drought  are 
beyond  anything  known  here  since  1755.  There  will  not  be 
10,000  hogsheads  of  tobacco  made  in  the  State.  If  it  should 
rain  plentifully  within  a  week,  the  corn  in  rich  lands  may  form 
nubbings ;  all  the  old  field  corn  is  past  recovery,  and  will  not 
yield  a  single  ear.  This  constitutes  the  bulk  of  our  crop ;  there 
will  be  no  fodder.  The  potatoes  are  generally  dead.  Emi 
gration  will  be  great  this  fall  from  necessity.  Affectionate 
salutations. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  16,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  made  it  a  rule  to  grant  no  pardon  in  any 
criminal  case  but  on  the  recommendation  of  the  judges  who  sat 
on  the  trial,  and  the  district  attorney,  or  two  of  them.  I  believe 
it  a  sound  rule,  and  not  to  be  departed  from  but  in  extraordi 
nary  cases.  This  occasions  me  to  trouble  you  with  the  enclosed 
petition.  It  is  probable  the  party  petitioning,  or  his  friends,  on 
being  informed  of  the  rule,  will  take  the  petition  and  present  it 
for  the  necessary  signatures ;  I  ask  the  favor  of  you  accordingly 
to  put  it  into  their  hands  with  the  necessary  information.  I 
salute  you  with  affection  and  respect. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  28,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  returned  hither  the  day  before  yesterday,  and 
found  your  two  letters  of  the  15th.  I  am  much  pleased  with 
the  expectation  of  Mr.  Thompson's  continuance  in  office  in  the 
Orleans  land  office.  The  appointment  of  Robert  Sargent  as 
second  mate  to  the  revenue  cutter  of  Delaware  is  approved.  On 
the  subject  of  the  negotiation  for  the  Floridas,  not  one  word 
further  than  is  known  to  you  has  been  received.  You  shall  im 
mediately  know  when  anything  is  received.  As  to  the  propo- 


308  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1806. 

sition  for  employing  the  Hornet  to  transport  money  for  certain 
merchants  from  a  belligerent  port  to  the  United  States,  Mr. 
Miller  seems  to  have  viewed  one  side  of  the  question  only.  The 
other  would  not  withstand  a  moment's  reflection.  Every  neutral 
vessel,  armed  or  unarmed,  transporting  merchandise  of  money 
or  other  goods,  is  rightfully  liable  to  search  by  the  ships  of  war 
of  a  belligerent.  Private  vessels,  even  armed,  are  accordingly 
searched.  The  public  armed  ships  are  not,  because  no  nation 
uses  them  but  for  the  protection  of  private  commerce,  not  for 
carrying  it  on.  The  honor  of  the  nation  is  relied  on  that  they 
are  not  so  employed ;  and  the  nation  who  would  lend  them  to 
such  purposes  must  give  up  their  exemption  from  search.  Should 
a  British  frigate,  having  intimation  of  the  Hornet's  cargo,  de 
mand  and  make  a  search,  he  would  find  on  board  the  proofs 
that  our  public  ships  abuse  their  privilege  and  of  course  must 
be  denied  it.  The  license  to  four  British  vessels  to  sail  to  Lima 
proves  that  belligerents  may,  either  by  compact  or  force,  conduct 
themselves  towards  one  another  as  they  please;  but  not  that  a 
neutral  may,  unless  by  express  permission  of  the  belligerent.  If 
the  money  said  to  have  been  brought  from  Jamaica  by  Murray 
&  Mullony  was  private  property,  the  act  was  wrong  and  ought 
not  to  be  repeated.  There  are  other  insuperable  reasons  in  this 
case,  but  this  one  is  sufficient.  I  must  take  a  little  more  time 
to  consider  and  answer  as  to  the  Western  roads  and  Louisiana 
instructions.  Affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  August  31,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  now  return  you  the  papers  respecting  the 
Louisiana  Board  of  Commissioners,  with  only  the  alteration  of 
omitting  the  words  in  the  Xth  instruction,  about  which  you  had 
doubted  yourself.  At  the  same  time  it  is  without  confidence  I 
give  any  opinion  on  this  subject,  having  always  considered  your 
knowledge  on  it  so  exact  as  to  supersede  the  necessity  of  my 
studying  it  minutely.  If  any  opinion  in  aid  of  yours  be  neces- 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  309 

sary,  I  am  sorry  we  could  not  call  in  that  of  the  Attorney- 
General  J  who  is  acquainted  with  the  subject. 

I  return  also  the  papers  on  the  Western  roads.  I  have  not 
here  a  complete  copy  of  the  laws  of  the  last  session,  and  partic 
ularly  no  copy  of  that  respecting  the  road  from  the  Mississippi 
to  the  Ohio.  If  I  recollect  it  rightly,  it  authorized  us  to  open 
but  one  road.  If  so,  the  branchings  proposed  by  Mr.  Badollet 
may  be  beyond  our  powers.  At  any  rate,  they  should  be  secondary, 
and  not  attempted  till  we  know  there  will  be  money  left  after 
accomplishing  the  principal  one.  I  submit  to  you,  therefore, 
whether  we  should  not  suspend  all  measures  respecting  the 
branching  roads.  With  respect  to  the  great  and  important  road 
which  is  the  principal  object: — 1.  Why  should  not  the  guide 
line  from  St.  Louis  to  Vincennes  be  direct,  instead  of  bending 
toB? 

2.  I  like  your  idea  of  straightening  the  guide-line  from  Vin 
cennes,  although  it  may  pass  through  a  corner  of  the  Indian 
lands.     But  if  necessary  to  cross  the  river  at  A  on  account  of 
the  ford,  should  not  the  guide-line  go  thence  direct  to  Cincinnati, 
as  I  have  pencilled  it,  or  to  Dayton,  if  that  be  the  shortest  way 
to  Chillicothe?  and  even  in  that  case  the  fork  to  Cincinnati  might 
be  transferred  to  C. 

3.  But  the  post-office  map  (the  only  one  I  have  here)  must  be 
egregiously  wrong  if  Dayton  is  not  much  out  of  the  direct  road 
from  Vincennes  to  Chillicothe.     According  to  that,  Cincinnati 
is  in  the  direct  line.     But  perhaps  the  deviation  by  Dayton  is 
from  economy,  and  to  spare  our  fund  the  expense  of  opening  the 
road  from  Cincinnati  to  Chillicothe  and  Marietta.     But  I  doubt 
whether  for  a  temporary  reason  we  ought  to  do  a  permanent 
injury,  especially  as  we  may  with  certainty  expect  that  Congress 
will  enlarge  the  appropriation. 

As  to  the  branches  of  the  roads,  if  it  be  lawful  and  advisable 
to  extend  our  operations  to  them,  I  presume  that  to  Louisville 
C.  H.  will  be  the  most  important.  But  should  the  fund  hold 
out,  that  to  Kaskaskia  may  be  taken  in  ultimately.  I  think  Mr. 
Badollet  is  right  in  proposing  that  the  road  shall  not  be  opened 
more  than  a  rod  wide.  Accept  affectionate  salutations,  and 
assurances  of  constant  esteem  and  respect. 


310  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1806. 

GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  13th  October,  1806. 

DEAR  SIR, — In  minds  solely  employed  in  honest  efforts  to 
promote  the  welfare  of  a  free  people  there  is  but  little  room  left 
for  the  operation  of  those  passions  which  engender  doubts  and 
jealousies.  That  you  entertained  none  against  me  I  had  the 
most  perfect  conviction  before  I  received  your  note  of  yesterday.1 
Of  your  candor  and  indulgence  I  have  experienced  repeated 
proofs ;  the  freedom  with  which  my  opinions  have  been  deliv 
ered  has  been  always  acceptable  and  approved,  even  when  they 
may  have  happened  not  precisely  to  coincide  with  your  own  view 
of  the  subject  and  you  have  thought  them  erroneous.  But  I  am 
not  the  less  sensible  of  your  kindness  in  repeating  at  this  juncture 
the  expression  of  your  confidence. 

If  amongst  the  authors  of  the  animadversions  to  which  you 
allude  there  be  any  who  believe  that  in  my  long  and  confiden 
tial  intercourse  with  Eepublican  members  of  Congress,  that  par 
ticularly  in  my  free  communications  of  facts  and  opinions  to  Mr. 
Randolph,  I  have  gone  beyond  what  prudence  might  have  sug 
gested,  the  occasion  necessarily  required,  or  my  official  situation 
strictly  permitted,  those  who  are  impressed  with  such  belief  must 
be  allowed  to  reprove  the  indiscretion,  and  may  perhaps  honestly 
suspect  its  motive.  For  those  having  charged  me  with  any 
equivocation,  evasion,  or  the  least  deviation  from  truth  in  any 
shape  whatever,  I  cannot  even  frame  an  apology.  And,  without 
cherishing  resentment,  I  have  not  the  charity  to  ascribe  to  purity 
of  intention  the  Philadelphia  attacks,  which  indeed  I  expect  to 
see  renewed  with  additional  virulence  and  a  total  disregard  for 
truth.  I  am,  however,  but  a  secondary  object,  and  you  are  not  less 
aware  than  myself  that  the  next  Presidential  election  lurks  at  the 
bottom  of  those  writings  and  of  the  Congressional  dissensions. 

Much  more,  however,  do  I  lament  the  injury  which  the  Repub 
lican  cause  may  receive  from  the  divisions  amongst  its  friends 
in  so  many  different  quarters.  Sacrificing  the  public  good  and 

1  See  Jefferson's  Writings,  v.  23. 


1806.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  311 

their  avowed  principles  to  personal  views,  to  pride  and  resent 
ment,  they  afford  abundant  matter  of  triumph  to  our  opponents ; 
they  discredit  at  all  events,  and  may  ultimately  ruin,  the  cause 
itself.  But  if  we  are  unable  to  control  the  conflicting  passions 
and  jarring  interests  which  surround  us,  they  will  not  at  least 
affect  our  conduct.  The  Administration  has  no  path  to  pursue 
but  to  continue  their  unremitted  attention  to  the  high  duties  en 
trusted  to  their  care,  and  to  persevere  in  their  efforts  to  preserve 
peace  abroad,  and  at  home  to  improve  and  invigorate  our  re 
publican  institutions.  The  most  important  object  at  present  is  to 
arrange  on  equitable  terms  our  differences  with  Spain.  That 
point  once  accomplished,  your  task  shall  have  been  satisfactorily 
completed,  and  those  you  have  associated  in  your  labors  will  be 
amply  rewarded  by  sharing  in  the  success  of  your  Administra 
tion.  From  no  other  source  can  any  of  them  expect  to  derive 
any  degree  of  reputation. 

With  sincere  respect  and  grateful  attachment,  &c.,  &c. 

[Another  draft,  subsequently  erased.] 

And  although  I  expect  a  continuation  of  still  more  malicious 
attacks,  you  are  well  aware  that  I  am  but  a  secondary  object,  and 
that  the  next  Presidential  election  is  the  true  source  of  every  con 
tention  not  purely  local.  To  you  my  wish  may  be  expressed 
that  whenever  you  shall  be  permitted  to  withdraw,  the  choice 
may  fall  on  Mr.  Madison  as  the  most  worthy  and  the  most 
capable.  But  I  know  that  on  that  point,  as  well  as  on  all  others 
which  relate  to  elections,  no  executive  officer  ought  to  interfere. 
Surrounded  but  unmoved  by  conflicting  passions  and  jarring 
interests,  the  Administration  can  only,  &c. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  THE  TREASURY,  November  12,  1806. 
DEAK  SIR, — I  stated  in  a  memorandum  sent  during  last  year 
that  a  continuation  of  the  Mediterranean  fund  for  three  years, 
including  the  current  year,  without  repealing  the  salt  tax,  would 


312  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1806. 

enable  us  to  pay  the  sum  contemplated  for  Florida,  without 
affecting  the  operations  relative  to  the  debt;  and  that  at  the 
end  of  that  period,  viz.,  1st  January,  1809  (at  which  time  the 
8  per  cent,  foreign  debt,  and  all  other  species  of  redeemable 
debt,  shall  have  been  paid  off),  we  might  do  without  either 
the  salt  or  Mediterranean. 

The  question  as  you  now  propose  it  wrould  be  to  give  up  the 
salt  duty  immediately,  keeping  the  Mediterranean  for  two  years 
longer.  That  will  make  a  difference  against  the  revenue  of  less 
than  one  million  for  the  two  years.  I  think  that  the  revenue 
of  this  year  has  exceeded,  or  will  exceed,  the  estimates  by  a  sum 
nearly  equal.  Of  that  I  will  be  more  certain  within  a  fortnight, 
but  not  sooner.  If  it  shall  prove  so,  there  will  be  no  objection 
to  the  proposal  but  the  unsettled  state  of  affairs  with  Spain. 
For  if  the  message  recommends  an  increase  of  the  military 
establishment,  of  gunboats  for  the  defence  of  New  Orleans,  or 
of  any  temporary  expenses  for  mounted  militia,  &c.,  this  must 
be  taken  into  consideration,  in  order  to  avoid  the  danger  of  in 
consistency,  and  the  greater  one  of  weakening  ourselves  if  we 
think  there  is  any  apprehension  of  war. 

I  would  wish  to  know  what  is  the  amount  of  expenses  con 
templated  for  all  objects  in  addition  to  the  usual  establishments. 
By  comparing  it  with  our  accounts  of  revenue,  I  will  be  able  to 
prepare  a  correct  statement  for  your  consideration. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

November  14,  1806. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

1.  As  to  the  500  cavalry.  If  we  have  peace  with  Spain,  we 
shall  not  want  them ;  if  war,  all  our  plans  must  be  new  moulded. 
It  is,  therefore,  only  during  the  present  unsettled  state.  This  can 
not  exceed  six  months  from  October  1,  about  which  time  they 
probably  went  into  service.  This  will  cost  100,000  D.  The 
proposing  to  Congress  to  establish  them  during  the  present  un- 


1806.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  313 

settled  state  of  things  is  merely  to  show  Spain  that  we  seriously 
mean  to  take  justice  if  she  will  not  do  it.  The  men  are  in  ser 
vice  under  a  previous  law.  This  is  the  only  extra  expense  I 
contemplate  to  meet  the  present  state.  Mr.  Smith  proposes  to 
ask  only  the  ordinary  annual  appropriation. 

2.  As  to  the  salt  tax.     If  that  and  the  Mediterranean  fund, 
continued  to  the  end  of  1808,  will  pay  the  Florida  purchase, 
suppose  the  act  of  commutation  lets  the  salt  tax  run  to  the  end 
of  1807, — will  not  its  amount  for  1808  be  made  up  by  the  in 
crease  of  impost  and  land  sales  beyond  calculation,  and  the 
sweepings  of  the  Treasury?   or   if  they  still  leave  a  deficit, 
would  not  the  perpetuity  of  the  Mediterranean  fund  enable  us 
to  anticipate  enough  for  the  deficit? 

3.  The  university.     This  proposition  will  pass  the  States  in 
all  the  winter  of  1807-8,  and  Congress  will  not  meet,  and  con 
sequently  cannot  act  on  it,  till   the  winter   of  1808-9.      The 
Florida  debt  will  therefore  be  paid  off  before  the  university 
can  call  for  anything. 

The  only  difficulty  in  the  whole,  then,  seems  to  be  the  amount 
of  the  salt  tax  for  1808,  which  I  am  in  hopes  will  not  be 
insuperable. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 
SKETCH    OF   FINANCIAL  PARAGRAPH   OF  1806. 

The  receipts  into  the  Treasury  during  the  year  ending  on  the 
30th  day  of  September  last  have  amounted  to  near  fifteen  mil 
lions  of  dollars  (14,958,300^-),  which  has  enabled  us,  after 
meeting  the  current  demands,  including  near  four  millions  of 
interest  on  the  public  debt  and  2,700,000  dollars  of  the  Ameri 
can  claims  asssumed  by  the  Louisiana  treaty,  to  discharge  upwards 
of  three  millions  of  the  principal  of  the  public  debt.  These 
payments,  together  with  the  reimbursement  of  the  five  and  half 
per  cent,  stock  already  provided  for,  and  with  those  payments 
which  had  been  made  in  four  years  and  a  half  preceding,  will 
have  extinguished  more  than  twenty-three  millions  of  the  prin 
cipal  of  the  public  debt. 


314  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1806. 

Receipts. 

Balance  in  Treasury,  1st  October,  1805,  $4,558,664.02 

Eeceipt  in  the  year  ending  30th  September,  1806 : 
Customs,  $14,212,892.10^) 

Lands,  595,558.68  V  14,958,300.53 

.75  J 


Arrears,  postage,  incidental,          149,849, 


$19,516,964.55 


Expenditures  same  year : 

Civil  list,  miscellaneous,  foreign  intercourse,  $1,517,755.56 

Military  and  Indian  Departments,  1,038,599.48 

Naval  Department,  1,767,500.00 

Claims  under  Louisiana  convention  (extras),  2,700,098.52 

Public  debt,  for.  and  dom.,  interest,  $3,764,866.34  \ 
principal*  3,248,674.88^ 

$14,037,494.78 
Balance  in  Treasury  1st  October,  1806,  5,479,469.77 

$19,516,964.55 

*  But  observe  that  one  million  of  this  sum  may  by  our  min 
isters  be  applied  to  the  purchase  of  Florida,  in  which  case  an 
equal  sum  must  be  replaced  in  Holland  by  the  Treasury,  and 
there  shall  have  been  so  much  less  paid  last  year  on  account  of 
the  principal  of  the  public  debt  than  is  here  stated.  In  our 
accounts  the  payments  will  appear  as  here  stated,  and  the  deduc 
tion  of  one  million  in  the  accounts  of  next  year.  This  circum 
stance  will  be  explained  in  the  report  of  the  Secretary,  but 
cannot  be  satisfactorily  stated  in  a  concise  paragraph  of  the 
message.  And  we  must  in  that  message  either  take  credit  for 
the  whole  three  millions  and  upwards  (as  proposed)  on  account 
of  the  principal  of  the  debt,  or  take  credit  only  for  upwards  of 
two  millions,  and  say  that  we  have  paid  or  remitted  one  million 
on  account  of  the  Florida  purchase.  The  total  payments  for 
principal  and  interest  of  the  debt  are  upwards  of  seven  millions, 
from  which  deducting  the  one  million  leaves  six  millions,  which, 
together  with  1,847,500  dollars  five  and  half  stock  to  be  paid 


1806.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  315 

in  December  and  a  small  remittance  to  Holland  (both  of  which 
are  exclusive  of  the  payments  properly  belonging  to  the  last 
quarter  of  1806),  will  make  up  the  annual  appropriation  of 
eight  millions.  The  payments  will  be,  as  directed  by  law,  of 
eight  millions  for  each  calendar  year;  but  a  greater  portion  than 
usual  falls  on  the  last  quarter  of  the  year  1806,  which  makes 
the  year  ending  on  30th  September,  1806,  pay  less  than  the  8 
millions.  It  is  proposed  to  say  in  the  message  that  the  reim 
bursement  of  five  and  half  per  cent,  stock  is  already  provided 
for,  which  is  true,  since  we  have  five  millions  and  half  in  the 
Treasury.  But,  if  thought  more  correct,  the  words  between 
crotchets,  which  relate  to  that  reimbursement,  may  be  omitted, 
and  the  words  twenty-one  millions  substituted  to  twenty-three. 
In  that  case  it  might  be  proper  to  add  to  the  proposed  paragraph 
in  substance  as  folio weth:  "A  further  sum  of  near  two  million 
dollars  will  be  paid  before  the  close  of  this  year  by  the  Treasury 
in  reimbursement  of  the  principal  of  the  five  and  half  per  cent, 
stock.  And  it  is  hoped  from  the  present  flattering  appearance 
of  the  revenue  that  we  will  be  [able],  without  infringing  on 
the  annual  appropriation  of  8  millions  of  dollars  for  the  public 
debt,  to  defray,  without  recurring  to  any  loan,  the  expenses  con 
templated  by  the  act,  &c.  (making  provision  for  the  Florida 
purchase.)" 

Which  will  lead  naturally  to  the  paragraph  proposing  the 
repeal  of  the  salt  tax. 

DEAR  SIB, — I  enclose  sketches  from  wrhich  to  make  the 
financial  paragraph.  You  will  perceive  that  there  is  some 
difficulty  arising,  1st,  from  the  contingent  remittance  of  one 
million,  by  the  Hornet,  which,  according  to  circumstances,  may 
be  applied  either  to  the  purchase  of  Florida  or  to  the  Dutch 
debt  due  in  1807 ;  2d,  from  the  reimbursement  of  5J  per  cent, 
stock  which  we  could  not  advertise  for  a  shorter  period  than  1st 
January  next,  and  which  will  be  paid  only  next  month,  instead 
of  having  been  paid  prior  to  30th  September  last.  I  am  afraid 
that  the  words  already  provided  for,  as  applied  to  that  reimburse 
ment,  may  be  cavilled  at,  and  had  rather  speak  of  it  altogether 
as  in  prospect,  as  proposed  in  the  last  sketch.  I  will  thank  you, 


316  WETTINGS     OF    GAL  LATIN.  1806. 

however,  to  let  ine  see  the  paragraph  you  propose  before  it  is 
finally  adopted.  The  corresponding  paragraph  of  last  year's 
message  is  enclosed  for  comparison. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant, 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

REMARKS  ON  PRESIDENT'S   MESSAGE. 

[16th  November,  1806.] 

Foreign  relations — "  could  leave  no  imputation  on  either  our 
moderation  or  forbearance."  The  plan  to  terminate  the  Spanish 
differences  by  the  purchase  of  Florida  will,  if  successful,  prove 
highly  advantageous  to  the  United  States,  but  is  ill  relished  by 
Spain,  and  in  case  of  failure  will  not  alone  aiford  proofs  of  mod 
eration  or  forbearance.  These  must  be  found  in  the  contingent 
instructions  given  to  our  ministers  in  case  they  should  fail  in  the 
principal  object.  What  have  these  been?  and  do  they  fully 
justify  the  assertion?  I  have  not  seen  them,  and  mention  this 
merely  for  consideration.  [Note  by  T.  J. — The  ultimatum  of 
your  instructions  is,  1st,  satisfaction  for  spoliations;  and,  2d, 
silence  as  to  limits,  leaving  each  party  to  pursue  its  own  course 
as  to  these.] 

England. — "Whether  this  (issue)  will  be  such  as,  &c.,  must 
depend  on  that  issue."  There  is  some  inaccuracy  in  the  con 
struction  of  that  sentence,  the  meaning  of  which  is  that  the 
necessity  of  the  repeal  or  reinforcement,  &c.,  depends  on  the 
issue  of  the  negotiations. 

Spain — "has  consented  to  meet  us,  &c."  Is  the  fact  posi 
tively  asserted  by  Mr.  Armstrong  ?  Mr.  Erving  in  his  last  letter 
denies  it. 

Second  page — "  and  to  permit  no  new  settlement  or  post  to  be 
taken  within  it."  The  last  instructions  permit,  as  an  ultimatum 
and  under  certain  circumstances,  the  maintenance  of  the  increased 
force  at  Bayou  Pierre.  But  the  whole  of  this  paragraph  will 
probably  require  some  modification  if  the  intelligence  of  an 
arrangement  between  Wilkinson  and  Herrera  proves  true. 


1806.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  317 

Army. — Might  not  the  words  "  in  other  respects  our/'  or  some 
to  that  effect,  be  substituted  to  "  our  regular"  ?  For  it  seems  to 
me  that  the  continuance  of  a  corps  of  cavalry  by  voluntary  enlist 
ment  and  for  the  term  stated  in  the  preceding  paragraph  is  to  all 
intents  an  increase  of  regular  force  as  contradistinguished  from 
militia  or  volunteers. 

New  Orleans. — I  would  omit  the  words  "  perhaps  the  present 
fort  of  Plaquemine ;"  1st,  in  order  to  avoid  unnecessary  commit 
ment  of  opinion ;  2d,  because  Plaquemine  is  not,  I  believe,  below 
all  the  firm  lands.  Observe  also  that  the  approaches  by  Lake  Pont- 
chartrain  must  be  defended,  as  well  as  those  by  the  Mississippi. 

Third  page — Fortifications. — Substitute  a  to  some,  as  this  last 
expression  may  be  construed  into  an  evidence  of  disregard  for 
that  mode  of  defence.  And  considering  the  lively  interest  felt  in 
a  certain  quarter  on  that  question,  and  the  use  made  of  it,  is  it 
necessary  to  speak  of  that  object  in  terms  as  decisive  as  those  used 
at  the  end  of  page  7  ?  Might  not  these  be  omitted  or  modified  ? 

Fourth  page — Insurrection. — If  the  information  received  is  not 
sufficiently  decisive  to  affix  criminality  to  certain  individuals,  the 
word  "  are"  at  the  end  of  fourth  line  may  be  omitted ;  but  if  the 
proofs  received,  without  being  legal  evidence,  are  sufficient  to 
impress  a  conviction  that  the  object  was  of  an  internal  nature, 
the  word  should  remain. 

"Where  an  enterprise  is  modified,  &c."  The  following  para 
graph  shows  that  there  are  cases  in  which  the  powers  of  pre 
vention  given  by  the  laws  are  not  sufficient  against  enterprises 
modified  against  foreign  nations.  On  that  account,  and  because 
it  appears  important,  considering  Miranda's  expedition,  not  to 
impress  too  forcibly  the  opinion  that  those  powers  are  really 
sufficient,  I  would  suggest  not  only  to  substitute  another  word 
to  "  meditated,"  but  to  place  the  defect  of  the  existing  laws  in 
that  respect  in  a  more  prominent  point  of  view  than  is  done 
by  the  following  paragraph.  This  may  perhaps  be  effected  by 
making  that  subject  a  distinct  head  instead  of  mentioning  it 
incidentally,  and  by  indicating  it  in  more  general  terms.  For 
pointing  out  a  single  particular  defect  seems  to  diminish  its  im 
portance.  Quere,  whether  some  more  direct  allusion  to  Miranda's 
expedition  would  not  be  politic  and  practicable  ? 


318  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1806. 

Indians — "we  have  nothing  to  fear  from  that  quarter."  The 
assurance  seems  too  positive,  as  danger  may  arise  from  causes  not 
under  our  control,  such  as  the  intrigues  of  Spanish  agents  to  the 
South  and  of  British  traders  on  the  Northwest. 

Fifth  and  sixth  pages — Red  River,  Mississippi. — The  details 
seem  comparatively  too  long,  both  in  relation  to  the  other  parts 
of  the  message  generally  and  to  the  Missouri  expedition.  But 
I  would  at  all  events  avoid  a  commitment  respecting  the  north 
ern  boundary  of  either  Louisiana  or  the  United  States.  The 
boundary  fixed  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht  might  be,  and  probably 
was,  intended  for  Canada  rather  than  for  Louisiana ;  and  Crozat's 
charter  expressly  limits  the  last  province  to  the  45th  degree  of 
latitude. 

As  to  the  United  States,  we  have  conceded  that  a  parallel 
westwardly  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  was  not  our  necessary 
boundary,  and  have  agreed  heretofore  to  a  straight  line  from 
that  lake  to  the  source  of  the  Mississippi. 

Seventh  page — Salt  tax. — This  has  never  amounted  to  600,000 
dollars,  and  averages  about  550,000.  The  Mediterranean  fund 
at  present,  and  whilst  the  European  war  continues,  is  worth 
almost  a  million.  The  words  "not  materially  different  in 
amount"  are  not,  therefore,  correct.  Observe  also  that  |-  of  the 
salt  tax — 8  cents  per  bushel — expire  on  3d  March,  1811.  We 
may  dispense  with  the  whole  of  it  from  the  present  time,  or 
say  from  1st  July  next,  provided  the  Mediterranean  fund  be 
continued  only  for  two  years  longer,  or  till  1st  January,  1809. 
If  circumstances  should  then  render  a  further  continuation 
necessary,  it  may  then  be  again  extended.  I  would,  on  the 
whole,  propose  to  suppress  the  words  "  not  materially  different 
in  amount,"  and  that  the  next  line  should  read,  "  by  continuing 
for  a  limited  time  the  Mediterranean  fund." 

University — "  they  cannot  then  be  applied  to  the  extinguish 
ment,  &c." 

I  would  wish  that  between  the  words  then  and  be  the  follow 
ing  should  be  inserted :  "  without  a  modification  assented  to  by 
the  public  creditors;"  or  that  the  idea  should  be  inserted  in 
some  other  way  in  the  paragraph.  It  will  be  consistent  with 
the  opinion  expressed  that  the  extinguishment,  &c.,  and  libera- 


1806.  LETTERS,    ETC.  319 

tion,  &c.,  are  the  most  desirable  of  all  objects,  and  Congress  have 
now  under  consideration  a  plan  for  the  purpose  which  I  sub 
mitted  last  session,  and  was  postponed  because  reported  too  late 
by  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means. 

On  Fortifications,  &c. — This  is  the  paragraph  which  I  think 
might,  without  injury  to  the  sense,  be  omitted. 

Eighth  page — "  to  be  partitioned  among  the  States  in  a  federal 
and  just  ratio."  Would  it  not  be  best  to  omit  these  words,  as 
neither  improvements  nor  education  can  ever  in  practice  be 
exactly  partitioned  in  that  manner  ?  and  the  suggestion  might 
embarrass  or  defeat  the  amendment  when  before  the  House. 

"  The  surpluses  indeed  which  will  arise,  &c." — It  may  be 
observed  on  whatever  relates  to  the  connection  between  those 
surpluses  and  the  proposed  improvements  and  university,  1st, 
that,  war  excepted,  the  surpluses  will  certainly  and  under  any 
circumstances — even  while 'the  debt  will  be  in  a  course  of  pay 
ment — be,  after  1st  January,  1809,  sufficient  for  any  possible 
improvement.  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  will  amount  to  at 
least  two  millions  a  year,  and,  if  no  modification  in  the  debt 
takes  place,  to  nearly  five.  2d,  that  it  will  take  at  least  the  two 
intervening  years  to  obtain  an  amendment,  pass  the  laws  desig 
nating  improvements,  and  make  the  arrangements  preparatory 
to  any  large  expense.  3d,  that  the  existing  surpluses  are  at 
this  moment  sufficient  for  any  university  or  national  institute. 

But  the  whole  of  this  part  of  the  message  rests  on  the  suppo 
sition  that  a  longer  time  must  elapse  before  we  are  ready  for  any 
considerable  expenditure  for  improvements,  and  that  we  would 
not  be  able  to  meet  even  that  for  the  university  before  the  time 
which  must  elapse  in  obtaining  an  amendment. 

The  general  scope  of  this  part  of  the  message  seems  also  to 
give  a  preference  to  the  university  over  general  improvements ; 
and  it  must  not  be  forgotten,  apart  from  any  consideration  of 
their  relative  importance,  that  the  last  proposition  may  probably 
be  popular,  and  that  the  other,  for  university,  will  certainly  be 
unpopular.  I  think,  indeed,  that  the  only  chance  of  its  adop 
tion  arises  from  the  ease  with  which  funds  in  public  lands  may 
be  granted. 

It  appears  to  me,  therefore,  that  the  whole  of  that  part,  from 


320  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1806. 

the  words  above  quoted — "the  surpluses  indeed,  &c." — to  the 
words  "  to  which  our  funds  may  become  equal,"  should  undergo 
a  revisal,  introducing  in  the  same  place  the  substance  of  the  last 
paragraph  of  the  9th  page  respecting  a  donation  of  lands,  which 
seems  to  be  misplaced  where  it  now  stands.  If  a  total  revision 
is  not  approved,  the  following  alterations  are  suggested. 

Erase  from  "the  surpluses"  in  15th  line  to  "first"  inclu 
sively  in  18th  line,  and  insert  "the  surpluses  are  already  at 
this  moment  adequate  to,"  or  words  to  that  effect.  Erase  from 
"  to  such"  in  8th  line  from  bottom  to  the  end  of  the  page,  and 
insert  "  But  whether  our  views  be  restrained."  Ninth  page. — 
To  the  word  "  may"  in  2d  line  substitute  "  will  soon ;"  and  in 
3d  line,  between  "  equal"  and  "  I,"  substitute  a  comma  to  a  full 
stop. 

Ninth  page. — Would  it  not  be  better  to  stop,  when  speaking 
of  the  amendment,  at  the  words  "td  be  applied,"  7th  line?  It 
would  avoid  a  discussion  on  the  words  "  general  welfare ;"  and 
it  must  be  observed  that  if  even  those  words  had  the  greatest 
extent  in  the  Constitution  of  which  they  are  susceptible,  viz., 
that  Congress  had  power  to  raise  taxes,  &c.,  for  every  purpose 
which  they  might  consider  productive  of  public  welfare,  yet  that 
would  not  give  them  the  power  to  open  roads  and  canals  through 
the  several  States.  The  first  reason  given,  that  the  objects  now 
recommended  are  not  among  those  enumerated,  &c.,  is  conclusive 
and  seems  sufficient.  At  all  events,  I  would  suppress  the  para 
graph  which  suggests  an  amendment  to  erase  from  the  Constitu 
tion  those  words,  as  questionable  in  its  nature,  and  because  the 
proposition  seems  to  acknowledge  that  the  words  are  susceptible 
of  a  very  dangerous  meaning. 


NOTE   ON   THE   PARAGRAPH   ENTITLED   "UNIVERSITY." 

[22d  November,  1806.] 

From  yesterday's  conversation  I  thought  it  was  agreed  to 
restore  (after  the  words  "an  accumulation  of  moneys  in  the 
Treasury")  the  words  "  will  ere  long  take  place"  instead  of  "  is 
now  taking  place"  as  sufficiently  correct  and  less  likely  to  fur- 


1806.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  321 

nish  an  argument  against  the  limited  extension  of  the  Mediter 
ranean  fund,  which  is  proposed. 

It  is  true  that,  not  this  year,  but  as  early  as  1807,  the  accumu 
lation  will  take  place  if  Florida  is  not  purchased.  But  if  that 
purchase  takes  place,  all  the  surpluses  for  1807  and  1808,  in 
cluding  the  Mediterranean  fund,  which  is  wanted  for  that  very 
purpose,  will  be  absorbed  by  the  payment,  and  the  accumulation 
will  commence  only  in  1809.  It  seems  to  me  that  that  correction 
will  not  aifect  any  part  of  the  message,  and  that  all  which  follows 
to  the  end  will  read  very  well,  and  is  quite  consistent  with  the 
restoration  I  propose.  The  word  system  has  not  been  introduced 
as  connected  with  fortifications.  But  I  still  think  that  for  the 
sake  of  expressing  an  abstract  opinion  which  is  perhaps  too 
general,  the  risk  is  incurred  of  killing  the  proposed  amendment 
and  university,  and  of  politically  losing  the  city  and  State  of 
New  York. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

November  23,  1806. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

The  words  "ere  long"  and  "systems  of  fortifications"  were 
omitted  by  oversight  in  correcting  the  copy  I  sent  you  yesterday., 
I  had  made  both  those  amendments  in  the  original.  But  I 
have  struck  out  the  passage  about  fortifications  altogether,  for 
the  principle  that  where  there  is  a  difference  of  opinion  it  is 
better  to  say  too  little  than  too  much.  Affectionate  salutations.. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 
OBSERVATIONS. 

[25th  November,  1806.] 

Wm.  Kettletas,  said  to  be  an  inmate  of  General  Wilkinson's,, 
and  appointed  Attorney-General  by  him.  This  last  particular  is 
a  mistake. 

M.  Ernest  was  removed  for  delinquency  in  the  spring  1805  ;, 
VOL.  i.— 22 


322  WETTINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1806. 

and  as  soon  as  his  accounts  were  adjusted  a  suit  was  instituted  at 
Detroit  by  the  Comptroller;  but  before  the  writ  had  been  issued 
there  (or  probably  on  his  hearing  of  its  being  in  the  hands  of  the 
territorial  officer),  he  left  the  Territory  for  Kentucky.  I  had 
heard  nothing  more  of  him  since,  and,  as  he  had  left  his  family 
at  Detroit,  expected  that  we  would  still  get  hold  of  him.  But 
I  heard  the  other  day  by  Mr.  Hoffman,  the  present  collector  of 
Michilimackinac,  that  he  (Ernest)  had  joined  Duncan,  the  late 
absconding  collector  of  Michilimackinac,  at  New  York  in  Feb 
ruary  or.  March  last.  They  have  both  disappeared ;  but  I  believe 
that  they  were  seen  in  New  York  subsequent  to  Miranda's  depart 
ure.  Duncan  went  off  with  more  than  30,000  dollars,  but  I  do 
not  think  that  Ernest  took  any  money  away;  he  had  spent  it, 
probably,  before  his  removal.  It  is  true  that  Governor  Hull 
did  appoint  Ernest,  then  a  removed  officer,  to  some  territorial 
offices ;  and  being  informed  of  it  through  Worthington's  channel, 
I  expostulated  with  the  governor  when  here  last  winter  on  the 
impropriety  of  a  territorial  governor  appointing  a  man  who  had 
just  been  removed  by  the  President,  and  that  for  delinquency. 
Governor  Hull  appeared  to  regret  that  he  had  made  the  appoint 
ment,  but  said  nothing  of  his  having  left  the  Territory.  Observe 
that  Hull,  Woodward,  and  Duncan  travelled  together  from  De 
troit  to  New  York.  I  hope  they  were  ignorant  of  Duncan's 
intentions,  on  which  they  did  not  communicate  anything.  The 
establishment  of  a  bank  was  communicated  by  Mr.  Griswold, 
to  whom  I  wrote  10th  instant  that  he  ought  to  send  the  law 
immediately,  in  order  that  it  might  be  laid  before  Congress. 

This  establishment  must  be  either  a  landed  or  a  swindling 
speculation,  and  I  think  that  some  inquiry  should  be  made  respect 
ing  the  motives  of  the  governor.  He  may  certainly  be  written  to 
on  the  subject;  the  objections  arising  both  from  want  of  apparent 
utility  and  from  the  charter  of  the  Bank  United  States  stated, 
and  an  explanation  asked. 

It  is  true  that  Mr.  Jackson  was  the  chairman  of  the  committee 
who  reported  two  extraordinary  bills  last  session,  one  to  alter 
the  form  of  territorial  government  for  Michigan  on  principles  so 
opposed  to  those  of  our  political  institutions  that  I  am  at  a  loss 
to  guess  how  it  could  pass  the  House  without  animadversion; 


1806.  LETTERS,    ETC.  323 

the  other  to  give  to  the  governor  and  judges  the  power  of 
deciding  on  all  land  claims  in  the  Territory,  disposing  of  the 
vacant  lands  within  the  Indian  extinguished  lines.  Both  passed 
the  House;  Nicholson  had  resigned;  Randolph  attending  to  other 
objects;  no  man  yet  considering  himself  as  obliged  to  watch  over 
every  proceeding;  in  fact,  nobody  had  attended  to  the  business. 
I  found  it  necessary  to  interfere  by  speaking  to  members  of  the 
Senate,  and  succeeded  in  having  the  government  bill  postponed 
sine  die,  and  the  general  principles  of  the  land  bill  rejected. 

But  Woodward  hung  to  as  a  leech,  and  obtained  from  Tracy, 
the  chairman  of  the  Senate  committee,  that  at  least  the  governor 
and  judges  should  be  permitted  to  settle  and  compromise  the 
claims  to  lots  in  the  town  of  Detroit,  on  account  of  its  destruc 
tion  by  fire  and  the  necessity  of  laying  it  out  on  a  better  plan. 
To  this  I  assented;  but  after  all  they  added  10,000  acres  adjoin 
ing  Detroit  to  the  town,  giving  unlimited  powers  to  the  governor 
and  judges  to  settle  all  claims  to  land  within  it,  and  without 
either  describing  which  way  the  10,000  acres  should  be  laid, 
or  enacting  a  single  principle  on  which  the  decision  should  be 
founded.  This  I  never  knew  till  after  the  bill  had  become  a 
law,  Woodward  and  Tracy  having  both  told  me  that  the  report 
would  be  only  for  the  town  lots.  I  have  no  doubt  that  there 
was  and  still  is  some  object  beyond  that  of  having  the  trouble 
of  settling  complex  and  opposite  claims.  Whatever  relates  to 
land  cannot  be  too  much  watched.  Nicholson  in  the  House  was 
the  only  man  who  had  attended  a  little  to  it,  and  Worthington  is 
the  only  one  in  the  Senate,  since  Breckenridge  left  it,  who  under 
stands  the  subject.  He  has  been  perfectly  faithful  in  that  respect, 
trying  only  to  relieve  as  much  as  possible  the  purchasers  generally 
from  being  hard  pressed  for  payment.  The  suspicion  arising 
from  the  law  forbidding  the  taking  stock  in  payment  for  land, 
as  tending  to  accumulate  money  in  the  land  offices  to  the  west 
ward,  is  intended  for  me,  as  I  proposed  the  alteration  in  an  official 
report.  The  object  was  simply  to  prevent  speculation  and  pre 
serve  purity  of  our  land  offices.  For  if  permitted  to  pay  in  stock, 
the  consequence  was  that  the  real  purchasers  paid  all  in  cash,  and 
the  clerks  (the  principals  would  have  soon  done  it)  and  others 
paid  the  United  States  in  certificates,  and  pocketed  the  profit. 


324  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1806. 

Precisely  so  did  the  sheriffs  of  Virginia  during  and  after  the 
war,  when  taxes  were  payable  in  certificates,  &c.  In  this  instance, 
James  Koss  and  Bell,  and  Jenkinson,  had  formed  two  companies 
for  the  purpose,  and  actually  paid  near  100,000  dollars  in  stock 
within  a  few  months,  for  which  they  had  received  cash  from  the 
purchasers.  Worthington,  too,  had  begun  to  speculate  upon  it 
to  the  amount  of  10  to  20  thousand  dollars.  As  to  the  accumula 
tions  of  cash  to  the  westward,  it  is  always  difficult  to  draw  the 
money  from  the  public  officers  there,  on  account  of  distance.  Yet 
though  600,000  dollars  were  paid  last  year,  so  far  from  accumu 
lating,  the  balances  in  hands  of  receivers  have  diminished  since 
the  law  was  passed.  On  1st  April  last  they  had  395,000  dollars 
on  hand,  on  the  1st  October  not  more  than  290,000.  It  would, 
to  be  sure,  be  a  good  prize  for  insurgents,  but  we  cannot  avoid 
it.  The  money  must  be  carried  at  the  expense  of  the  officers 
two  or  five  hundred  miles  to  Pittsburgh;  and  it  is  only  twice  a 
year  that  they  can  take  it  up  the  Ohio  from  Cincinnati. 

NOTES  ON  PAKAGKAPH.l 

"  The  criminal  attempts"  Might  not  the  word  illegal  be  added 
or  substituted?  or  the  words  "contrary  to  law'7  be  inserted  in  the 
first  paragraph  when  speaking  of  the  combination  ?  It  is  merely 
in  order  to  introduce  the  idea  that  the  enterprise  is  expressly 
forbidden  by  law,  and  that  it  was,  therefore,  the  duty  of  the 
Executive  to  stop  it. 

It  does  not  seem  to  follow  absolutely  that  the  enterprise  if 
carried  into  effect  should  have  decided  the  question  of  peace  or 
war.  For  then  it  would  follow  that  Miranda's  expedition  must 
necessarily  have  produced,  or  was  to  Spain  a  just  cause  of,  war. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  last  line  should  read  "  should  be"  in 
stead  of  " ought  to  be" — it  was  due  to  good  faith,  &c.,  that  the 

f  should  be  ) 
attempts,  &c.,[ouffM  fo  ^suppressed. 

1  The  paragraph  relating  to  Burr's  expedition,  in  the  Annual  Message. 
See  Jefferson's  Writings,  viii.  63. 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  325 

JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

December  12,  1806. 

Th.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

Although  I  have  the  most  perfect  confidence  in  the  integrity 
of  Briggs,  and  very  little  in  Davies,  his  accuser,  yet  where  a 
charge  is  so  specific  and  direct,  our  duty  calls  for  investigation. 
The  distance  is  too  great  to  wait  for  preliminary  explanation.  I 
think  with  you  that  Mr.  Williams,  the  former  register,  will  be 
a  proper  person  to  inquire  into  the  charge,  but  that  he  would 
probably  be  less  willing  to  undertake  it  alone  than  joined  with 
another ;  and  I  would  propose  to  join  with  him  Mr.  Dunbar, 
who  deserves  entire  confidence.  In  the  case  of  the  removal 
proposed  by  the  collector  of  Baltimore,  I  consider  it  as  entirely 
out  of  my  sphere,  and  resting  solely  with  yourself.  Were  I 
to  give  an  opinion  on  the  subject,  it  would  only  be  by  observing 
that  in  the  cases  under  my  immediate  care,  I  have  never  con 
sidered  the  length  of  time  a  person  has  continued  in  office,  nor 
the  money  he  has  made  in  it,  as  entering  at  all  into  the  reasons 
for  a  removal.  The  want  of  a  collector  at  Chestertown  shall 
be  attended  to  with  the  first  nominations.  The  allegations 
against  Pope,  of  New  Bedford,  are  insufficient.  Although  med 
dling  in  political  caucuses  is  no  part  of  that  freedom  of  per 
sonal  suffrage  which  ought  to  be  allowed  him,  yet  his  mere 
presence  at  a  caucus  does  not  necessarily  involve  an  active  and 
official  influence  in  opposition  to  the  government  which  employs 
him.  Affectionate  salutations. 

P.S. — I  return  the  papers  in  Briggs's  and  the  Baltimore  case. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 


DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  6th  January,  1807. 

DEAR  Sra,— On  10th  April,  1801,  Dufour  (the  Swiss  who 
has  planted  a  vineyard  in  Kentucky)  purchased  at  the  sales  at 
Cincinnati  795J  acres  at  2  dollars  per  acre,  and  paid  the  first 


326  WKITINGS     OF    OALLATIN.  1807. 

instalment  of  397  dollars  -ffo.  Last  winter  he  passed  through 
this  city,  and  inquired  whether,  as  the  time  fixed  for  completing 
the  payment  would  expire  in  1806,  there  was  any  probability  of 
the  time  being  extended.  To  which  I  answered  in  the  negative. 
He  then  informed  me  that  he  was  on  his  way  to  Switzerland  to 
bring  his  wife  and  child,  whom  he  had  left  there  till  he  was 
settled  here,  and  would  leave  funds  with  a  house  in  New  York 
to  complete  the  payment.  That  house  neglected  it  till  November, 
when  they  made  inquiry  respecting  the  amount  due  and  the 
place  of  payment.  I  answered  that  the  money  must  be  paid  in 
Cincinnati  to  the  register  before  the  2d  of  December,  which  was 
the  day  advertised  for  the  sales  of  forfeited  lands,  and  offered,  in 
order  to  insure  the  transmission  of  money,  that  if  they  would 
pay  the  amount  into  the  Treasury,  I  would  send  the  receipt  to 
the  receiver  or  register,  with  whom,  provided  he  received  it 
before  the  sales,  it  would  be  a  sufficient  evidence  of  payment. 
They  accordingly  paid  the  money,  1600  dollars,  in  the  Treasury 
on  the  21st  November,  and  on  the  same  day  I  transmitted  the 
Treasurer's  receipt  to  the  register.  My  letter  did  not  reach  him 
till  the  8th  December,  and  the  land  had  been  sold  on  the  2d. 
Although  I  consider  this  as  a  very  hard  case,  because  the  money 
was  paid,  not,  it  is  true,  to  the  proper  officer,  but  to  the  Treas 
urer  before  the  sale  took  place,  yet  I  think  the  sale  legal  and  the 
purchaser  entitled  to  a  patent. 

But  what  induces  me  to  lay  the  case  before  you  is  that  Mr. 
Mansfield,  the  Surveyor-General,  is  the  purchaser,  and  has  refused, 
though  apprised  of  all  the  facts  by  Mr.  Findlay,  the  receiver,  to 
relinquish  his  purchase.  I  enclose  his  letter  and  that  of  Mr. 
Findlay.  On  principles  of  common  honesty  he  ought,  even  if 
he  had  been  a  private  individual,  to  have  given  up  his  bar 
gain.  But  it  appears  to  me  that  as  a  public  officer,  and  under 
the  circumstances  of  payment  to  the  Treasury,  and  transmitted 
through  the  Secretary,  it  was  his  duty  particularly  so  to  do.  Yet 
I  can  give  him  no  orders  on  the  subject,  as  the  purchase  is  made 
in  his  private  capacity.  I  wish,  if  you  view  the  subject  as  I  do, 
that  you  would  either  write  him  a  private  letter,  or  authorize 
me  to  use  your  name,  not  by  way  of  orders  to  him,  but  of 
the  opinion  entertained  of  the  transaction.  My  best  endeavors, 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  327 

knowing  the  abuses  committed  in  almost  every  State,  have  been 
exerted,  and,  I  think,  with  success,  in  preserving  the  purity  of  our 
land  offices ;  and  I  see  with  great  regret  an  act  committed  by 
an  otherwise  very  worthy  man  and  vigilant  officer,  which  has  a 
tendency  to  render  the  officers  obnoxious  and  to  justify  similar 
or  worse  acts  in  others. 

"With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

January,  1807. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

The  sale  of  Dufour's  land  appears  to  have  been  regular.  The 
purchase,  too,  by  Mr.  Mansfield  is  valid  in  law  and  in  the  equity 
of  the  courts.  It  is  true  Mansfield  was  an  officer  of  the  United 
States,  but  his  office  was  noways  connected  with  the  sale  of  the 
lands.  Had  Findlay  purchased,  it  would  have  been  different,  be 
cause  he  would  have  been  both  seller  and  buyer ;  but  Mansfield 
was  as  much  a  private  citizen  as  to  that  sale  as  the  marshal  of 
Washington  would  have  been,  or  as  any  private  citizen.  It 
might  indeed  be  a  very  honorable  delicacy  in  him  to  relinquish 
it,  but  I  doubt  if  sound  morality  requires  it. 

The  opinion  on  the  back  of  one  of  the  letters  respecting  the 
collections  of  the  direct  tax  in  South  Carolina,  signed  D.  L., 
seems  to  be  a  very  sound  one,  and  the  application  by  William 
Smith  to  a  court  of  equity  the  most  extraordinary  one  I  have 
ever  known.  The  law  carefully  prescribing  the  precise  procedure 
in  everything  respecting  a  tax,  from  the  moment  of  the  demand 
till  it  is  in  the  Treasury,  and  all  in  that  summary  way  necessary 
in  tax-gathering,  does  in  effect  prescribe  wrhat  procedure  it  shall 
not  be  subject  to,  and  particularly  that  it  shall  not  be  subject  to 
the  dilatory  process  of  the  courts :  a  collector  cannot  bring  an 
action  in  a  court  for  a  tax,  because  that  is  not  the  remedy  the 
law  has  provided,  and  the  courts  would  be  filled  with  these  ac 
tions,  and  the  people  loaded  with  heavy  costs ;  and,  e  converse, 
the  citizen  cannot  carry  the  case  into  a  court.  It  is  impossible 
that  Judge  Bee  should  sustain  the  injunction.  If  he  does,  the 


328  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

remedies  are  appeal  and  impeachment.  It  would  be  against 
usage  to  be  amending  the  laws  on  every  error  of  a  single  judge. 
Should  Bee  maintain  the  injunction,  as  we  have  no  Attorney- 
General  here,  we  should  take  the  opinion  of  Dallas,  Hay,  or 
other  good  lawyers.  Affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

January  13,  1807. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

The  appointment  of  a  woman  to  office  is  an  innovation  for 
which  the  public  is  not  prepared,  nor  am  I.  Shall  we  appoint 
Springs,  or  wait  the  further  recommendations  spoken  of  by 
Bloodworth  ?  Briggs  has  resigned,  and  I  wish  to  consult  with 
you  when  convenient  on  his  successor,  as  well  as  on  an  Attorney- 
General.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 
NOTES.— MESSAGE   KESPECTING   GUNBOATS. 

[8th  February,  1807.] 

Second  paragraph. — Might  not  this  be  altogether  omitted? 
It  is  true  that  the  resolution  of  the  House  has  arisen  from  the 
debate  on  fortifications  versus  gunboats.  But  as  it  does  ask  in 
formation  only  on  the  last  subject,  it  is  not  necessary  to  allude 
to  the  other  subject,— such  allusion  will  be  construed  as  taking 
side  against  New  York  fortifications, — and  the  expression  of  that 
opinion  of  the  President  is  necessary  neither  to  prevent  too 
large  a  fortification  appropriation  nor  to  show  the  efficiency  of 
gunboats.  On  the  contrary,  the  third  paragraph,  with  some 
trifling  alterations  in  its  introduction,  would  present  the  whole 
system  contemplated  by  the  Executive  (which,  in  fact,  embraces, 
under  the  name  of  land-batteries,  a  species  of  fortifications), 
without  giving  offence  or  interfering  with  the  question  of  per- 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  329 

manent  and  detached  fortifications.  It  may  be  added  that 
Castle  William,  Mud  Island,  Fort  Johnson,  and  even  the 
works  now  going  on  on  Governor's  Island,  must  be  considered 
as  regular  fortifications,  not  properly  embraced  under  the  desig 
nation  of  land-batteries,  and  from  their  insular  and  detached 
situation  to  be  necessarily  manned  by  a  standing  military  force. 

Fifth  paragraph. — Omit  or  modify  the  words  "  inhabited  by, 
&c.,  whose  system  like  ours  is  peace  and  defence;"  otherwise 
Algiers  will  be  stated  as  having  a  system  of  peace  and  defence 
exclusively.  Omit  the  sentence  already  pencilled  relating  to  our 
squadron ;  it  is  not,  I  think,  altogether  correct  in  point  of  fact ; 
we  wanted  gunboats  there  to  attack  theirs  in  shallow  water,  and 
even  to  attack  their  batteries;  but  our  frigates  never  avoided 
them,  for  their  ground  (of  the  frigates)  was  on  the  high  seas, 
where  the  Tripolitan  boats  dared  not  come.  To  gunboats,  prop 
erly  so  called,  I  do  not  think  that  the  British  have  much  re 
sorted  in  the  Channel ;  but  they  did  under  Curtis,  in  completing 
the  destruction  of  the  floating  batteries  at  Gibraltar.  It  is  well 
known  that  during  that  long  siege  they  found  it  indispensable 
to  have  such  an  armament  to  meet  a  similar  enemy's  force.  The 
Swedes  and  Eussians  have  used  them  to  a  greater  extent  than 
any  other  nation.  The  most  splendid  achievement  by  gunboats 
was  the  destruction  (on  28th  and  29th  January,  1788)  of  a  great 
part  of  the  Turkish  fleet,  under  their  celebrated  Captain  Pacha 
Hassan  Aly,  in  the  Liman,  or  mouth  of  the  Dnieper,  by  the 
Russian  flotilla  under  Prince  of  Nassau.  Nassau  had  22  one- 
gun  boats  and  27  galleys.  Hassan  attacked  him  in  order  to 
force  the  passage  and  besiege  Kinburn,  with  16  ships  of  the 
line  and  several  frigates,  and  lost  nine  of  his  ships. 

The  latter  part  of  this  paragraph,  commencing  with  the  words 
"  and  indeed,"  to  the  end,  might  be  omitted. 

Seventh  paragraph — "and  the  127,  &c.,  would  cost  from  five 
to  six  hundred  thousand  dollars." 

Quere,  whether  any  gunboats  fit  for  sea,  including  rigging, 
guns,  &c.,  have  actually  been  built  for  less  than  five  thousand 
dollars;  and  whether  it  be  intended  that  they  should  all  be 
built  of  a  size  that  will  cost  no  more?  Are  also  the  appro 
priations  already  made  sufficient  to  complete  the  first  73  ? 


330  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

For  the  idea  conveyed  is  that  less  than  600  thousand  dollars 
will  complete  the  whole  number  of  200.  If  there  be  any 
uncertainty  on  that  point,  such  modification  in  the  expression 
should  be  made  as  will  avoid  a  premature  commitment. 

"  Having  regard,  &c.,  it  has  been  thought  that  one-half  might 
be  built  this  year  and  the  other  half  the  next."  I  am  clearly 
of  opinion  that  we  ought  to  build  now  all  those  that  are  wanted 
for  the  Mississippi,  and  also  that  number  which  it  may  be 
thought  proper  to  keep  afloat  in  time  of  European  war  in  the 
other  ports.  The  number  for  the  Mississippi  is  stated  in  the 
message  at  40;  that  to  be  kept  afloat  generally  in  time  of 
European  war,  stated  in  the  eighth  paragraph  at  24  at  most. 
This  makes  at  the  utmost  64,  and  there  are  already  73  building. 
It  does  not  seem  to  me  that  there  is  any  necessity  to  build  before 
hand  any  great  number,  for  the  others  are  expressly  stated  in  the 
message  to  be  wanted  only  in  case  the  United  States  are  at  war. 

If  any  length  of  time  was  necessary  to  build  such  vessels,  it 
might  be  proper  to  be  at  all  times  prepared  with  the  whole 
number  wanted.  But  of  all  the  species  of  force  which  war 
may  require, — armies,  ships  of  war,  fortifications,  and  gun 
boats, — there  is  none  which  can  be  obtained  in  a  shorter  notice 
than  gunboats,  and  none,  therefore,  that  it  is  less  necessary  to 
provide  beforehand.  I  think  that  within  sixty  days,  perhaps 
half  the  time,  each  of  the  seaports  of  Boston,  New  York, 
Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore  might  build  and  fit  out  thirty, 
and  the  smaller  ports  together  as  many,  especially  if  the  timber 
was  prepared  beforehand.  But  beyond  that  preparation  I  would 
not  go ;  for,  exclusively  of  the  first  expense  of  building  and  the 
interest  of  the  capital  thus  laid  out,  I  apprehend  that,  notwith 
standing  the  care  which  may  be  taken,  they  will  infallibly  decay 
in  a  given  number  of  years,  and  will  be  a  perpetual  bill  of  costs 
for  repairs  and  maintenance.  Sheds  will  be  of  use,  provided  the 
boats  are  built  and  not  launched ;  but  if  once  in  the  water,  they 
must  share  the  fate  of  all  other  vessels,  whether  public  or  private. 
It  would  be  an  economical  measure  for  every  naval  nation  to 
burn  their  navy  at  the  end  of  a  war,  and  to  build  a  new  one 
when  again  at  war,  if  it  was  not  that  time  was  necessary  to  build 
ships  of  war. 


1807.  LETTERS,    ETC.  331 

The  principle  is  the  same  as  to  gunboats,  and  the  objection  of 
time  necessary  to  build  does  not  exist.  I  also  think  that  in  this, 
as  in  everything  else  connected  with  a  navy  and  naval  depart 
ment,  the  annual  expense  of  maintenance  will  far  exceed  what 
is  estimated ;  and  I  would  not  be  in  the  least  astonished  if,  sup 
posing  200  gunboats  were  actually  built,  it  should  add  half  a 
million  of  dollars  a  year  to  our  annual  expenses  for  the  support 
of  that  establishment.  I  would  therefore  suggest  that  the  latter 
part  of  this  paragraph  which  contemplates  the  building  of  123 
in  two  years  should  be  omitted,  and  at  the  end  of  the  eighth 
paragraph  to  omit  also  the  words  "  without  expense  for  repairs 
or  maintenance,"  and  to  insert  the  substance  of  that  part  of  the 
seventh  paragraph  which  submits  the  question  to  the  Legisla 
ture,  but  with  a  modification,  so  as  to  read  in  substance:  With 
the  Legislature  it  will  rest  to  decide  on  the  number  sufficient  for 
the  object  and  the  time  of  building.1 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

February  22,  1807. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  send  you  Allston's  letter  for  perusal.  He  thinks  to  get  over 
this  matter  by  putting  a  bold  face  on  it.  I  have  the  names  of 
three  persons  whose  evidence,  taken  together,  can  fix  on  him  the 
actual  endeavor  to  engage  men  in  Burr's  enterprise.  Some  ap 
propriation  must  certainly  be  made  for  provisions,  <fec.,  arrested. 
I  expect  we  must  pay  for  them  all,  and  use  the  provisions  for 
the  army.  But  how  is  the  appropriation  to  be  introduced  ? 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

March  31,  1807. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  return  you  the  circular  letter  to  the  registers  on  the  subject 
of  intruders  on  the  public  lands,  with  a  proposition  for  a  single 

1  See  Mr.  Jefferson's  reply,  in  his  Writings,  v.  42. 


332  WKITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1807. 

alteration.  This  is  in  the  paper  B,  where,  instead  of  specifying 
for  what  purposes  they  may  cut  wood,  how  much  land  they  may 
clear,  and  what  other  acts  shall  be  deemed  waste  or  damage, 
which  would  be  to  be  accommodated  to  every  tract  according  to 
its  nature,  and  consequently  difficult,  I  would  use  the  general 
words  of  the  law,  "  on  the  condition  of  doing  no  waste  or  dam 
age  on  the  lands."  In  both  forms  you  are  free  to  remove  the 
tenant  on  discovering  that  he  is  committing  waste  or  damage, 
and  in  both,  if  he  has  committed  it  before  discovery,  you  must 
resort  to  a  court  to  recover  the  damages,  and  they  are  the  proper 
judges  what  act  is  waste,  according  to  the  circumstances  of  the 
land.  The  spirit  of  the  late  session  of  Congress  being  concilia 
tion,  I  think  it  will  be  more  promoted  by  these  general  words 
than  by  a  higgling  bargain  with  the  tenant.  Affectionate  salu 
tations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  13th  April,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  hope  this  will  find  you  safely  arrived  at  Mon- 
ticello,  and  that  this  short  relaxation  from  public  cares  will 
completely  re-establish  your  health.  I  give  this  day  to  Mr. 
Madison  the  result  of  my  inquiries  respecting  the  whole  number 
of  our  seamen  and  the  proportion  of  British  subjects  amongst 
them.  You  will  find  this  last  to  be  larger  than  we  had  esti 
mated,  and,  though  conjectural,  rests,  however,  on  the  only  data 
we  now  possess.  My  conclusion  is  that  a  provision  similar  to 
that  suggested,  viz.,  an  engagement  on  our  part  to  employ  no 
British  sailors,  would  materially  injure  our  navigation,  much 
more  indeed  than  any  restrictions  which,  supposing  no  treaty  to 
take  place,  they  could  lay  upon  our  commerce.  Nor  will  it  be 
worth  while  to  purchase  at  that  price  any  of  the  suggested  im 
provements  in  the  commercial  part  of  the  treaty,  because  the 
curtailing  of  our  navigation  by  that  measure  would  effectually 
prevent  our  enjoying  the  advantages  which  might  otherwise  re 
sult  from  such  modifications.  The  question,  it  seems  to  me,  will 
be  merely  whether  we  will  make  that  sacrifice  in  order  to  obtain 


1807.  LETTERS,    ETC.  333 

an  abandonment  of  the  practice  of  impressing  hereafter.  And 
upon  a  reconsideration  of  the  subject,  the  fact  as  to  numbers  and 
consequences  being  very  different  from  what  we  had  apprehended, 
I  think  the  sacrifice  too  great  for  the  object.  Unless,  therefore, 
it  be  believed  that  a  failure  in  the  treaty  will  lead  to  hostilities, 
or  to  a  state  of  things  equivalent  thereto,  it  appears  to  me  im 
proper  to  offer  the  proposed  arrangement.  I  am  strengthened 
in  the  opinion  by  the  views  of  the  commercial  articles  which 
have  been  lately  presented  by  General  Smith,  Captain  Jones,  &c. 
For,  as  the  modifications  to  be  attempted  were  not  to  be  consid 
ered  as  ultimate,  we  may,  from  past  experience,  infer  that  they 
will  not  be  obtained,  and  we  shall  then  have  made  a  very  great 
sacrifice  in  order  to  preserve  a  very  bad  treaty.  Should  you, 
however,  upon  a  view  of  the  whole  ground,  be  of  opinion  that  it 
is  better  to  abandon  the  British  sailors  than  to  run  the  risk  of 
the  consequences  which  may  follow  a  rejection  of  the  treaty,  I 
would  suggest  the  propriety  of  making  not  only  that  provision 
as  ultimatum,  but  to  add  to  it  at  least  the  expunging  of  the  East 
India  article  and  such  modification  or  explanation  of  the  fifth 
and  of  the  colonial  article  as  will  free  them  from  ambiguity, 
confining  expressly  the  reciprocity  of  freedom  of  commerce  and 
equalization  of  duties  to  articles  the  produce  of  British  dominion 
in  Europe  imported  into  the  United  States  from  Europe  in  Brit 
ish  vessels,  and  so  explaining  the  colonial  article  that  it  may  not 
be  susceptible  of  any  construction  which  would  deprive  us  of  any 
of  the  branches  of  trade  (such  as  carrying  nankeens  and  other 
China  articles  to  the  West  Indies,  &c.)  which  we  have  heretofore 
enjoyed  without  molestation. 

If,  on  the  other  hand,  the  British  government  will  evince  its 
disposition  to  be  on  good  terms  with  us  by  agreeing  to  the  arrange 
ment  respecting  seamen  on  the  principles  which  have  heretofore 
been  proposed  to  them,  I  would  think  that  provision  so  desirable 
that,  after  every  attempt  to  modify  the  most  exceptionable  parts 
of  the  treaty  had  failed,  I  would  swalloAV  it  for  the  sake  of  that 
article. 

The  collector  of  Savannah,  whom  Milledge  had  given  to  us, 
has  paid  nothing  for  some  time,  and  I  am  informed  by  the  branch 
bank  that  he  had  lodged  there  but  an  inconsiderable  part  of  the 


334  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

revenue  bonds.  This  renders  it  necessary  that  an  investigation 
of  his  accounts,  bonds  on  hand,  and  moneys  received  should  take 
place  immediately,  and  I  will  authorize  Alger,  the  commissioner 
of  loans,  and  perhaps  the  district  attorney,  to  do  it. 

If  they  discover  a  defalcation,  it  will  be  necessary  to  take  the 
collection  from  him  immediately,  as  it  amounts  to  about  six  thou 
sand  dollars  a  week.  But  as  we  have  no  successor  ready,  I  would 
in  that  case  propose  that  he  should  be  notified  that  he  is  removed, 
which,  until  a  successor  is  appointed,  would  place  the  collection 
in  the  hands  of  the  naval  officer  or  surveyor.  If  you  approve 
the  plan,  be  pleased  to  state  it,  as  it  is  in  your  name  that  I  must 
notify  him  that  he  is  removed.  Mr.  Alger,  the  commissioner  of 
loans,  whom  I  mean  to  employ  in  the  inquiry,  has  behaved  very 
well  as  a  public  officer,  but  I  know  nothing  of  the  district  attor 
ney,  whose  name  is  Bulloch.  If  you  recollect  anything  of  him 
which  may  show  whether  he  may  be  joined  in  the  investigation, 
I  would  thank  you  to  communicate. 

Answers  have  been  received  from  Bishop  Madison,  and  from 
Messrs.  Patterson,  Garnett,  and  Hassler,  respecting  the  surveying 
of  the  coast.  I  expect  daily  to  hear  from  Ellicott  and  Briggs, 
and  will  not  transmit  the  letters  till  all  have  been  received. 
They  will  require  examination,  as  there  seem  to  be  some  points 
on  which  they  differ. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  a  member  of  the  Legislature  of  Penn 
sylvania,  enclosing  a  rough  copy  of  the  Act  for  the  Cumberland 
road.  Although  the  words  "if  such  an  alteration  can,  in  the 
opinion  of  the  President,  be  made  consistently  with  the  Act  of 
Congress,"  are  neither  very  intelligible  nor  very  proper,  yet,  as 
in  the  conflict  of  local  interests  and  the  silent  but  steady  oppo 
sition  of  Philadelphia,  this  was  the  best  that  could  be  obtained, 
and  the  Act  explicitly  authorizes  the  President  to  lay  the  road 
over  any  ground  in  the  State  which  he  may  deem  most  advan 
tageous,  I  think  the  Act  should  be  accepted.  The  two  last 
sections  are  only  intended  to  prevent  owners  of  land  asking 
exorbitant  prices  for  timber,  stones,  gravel,  &c.,  wanted  for  the 
road.  The  immense  importance  of  that  road,  as  part  of  a  great 
Western  travelling  road,  and  principally  as  the  main  communica 
tion  for  the  transportation  of  all  the  foreign  or  Atlantic  articles 


1807.  LETTERS,    ETC.  335 

which  the  Western  States  consume,  and  even  for  the  carriage  of 
Western  flour  and  produce  to  the  Potomack,  induce  me  strongly 
to  wish  that  that  part  particularly  which  lies  between  the  Po 
tomack  and  the  Monongahela  may  be  completed  in  the  most 
substantial  manner.  And  for  that  purpose  I  think  that  the  best 
application  of  the  money  already  appropriated  will  be,  com 
mencing  at  Cumberland,  to  make  in  the  most  complete  manner 
just  so  many  miles  as  the  money  will  pay  for.  I  do  not  suppose 
that  will  eifect  more  than  five  or  six  miles;  but  I  have  no  doubt 
of  Congress  appropriating  then  enough  to  finish  it;  and  as  a 
national  object  it  is  of  primary  importance.  Ten  thousand  tons 
will  be  carried  westwardly  annually,  and  perhaps  one  hundred 
thousand  barrels  of  flour  brought  back.  I  think  the  annual 
saving  in  expenses  of  transportation  will  exceed  two  hundred 
thousand  dollars.  Two  letters  respecting  the  robbery  of  public 
moneys  at  Cincinnati  are  enclosed. 

With   sincere  attachment  and   great  respect,  your   obedient 
servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  16th  April,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  Governor  Harrison's  letter  and  his  con 
tract  with  Mr.  Taylor  for  the  lease  of  the  Saline,  which,  as  you 
will  perceive,  requires  your  approbation.  The  contract  is  certainly 
an  advantageous  one  for  the  intended  object, — the  reduction  of  the 
price  of  salt.  I  believe  that  it  wrill  be  found  cheaper  to  carry  the 
water  by  pipes  lower  down  the  creek  than  to  attempt  to  improve 
its  navigation.  But  a  road  would  be  useful.  We  have  gained 
about  two  thousand  dollars  after  paying  the  agent  on  the  re-sale 
of  salt  during  the  former  lease ;  but  how  far  we  are  authorized 
to  apply  that  money  to  improvement  is  a  question  to  be  ex 
amined.  Would  it  not  be  advisable  to  order  immediately  all  the 
intruders  on  the  land,  the  timber  of  which  will  be  wanted,  to  be 
removed  ?  Mr.  Madison  proposes  that  we  should  oiler  to  Great 
Britain  to  give  up  all  the  British  sailors  who  shall  not  have  been 
in  our  employment  two  years  previous  to  the  exchange  of  ratifica- 


336  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1807. 

tions  of  the  treaty.  Our  tonnage  employed  in  foreign  trade  has 
increased  since  1803  at  the  rate  of  about  70,000  tons  a  year, 
equal  to  an  increase  of  8400  sailors  for  two  years,  and  I  would 
estimate  that  the  British  sailors  have  supplied  from  one-half  to 
two-thirds  of  that  increase ;  for  the  natural  increase  of  our  native 
sailors  has  been  in  a  great  degree  absorbed  by  the  increase  of 
whale-fisheries  and  impressments.  Supposing,  however,  that 
proposition  to  deprive  us  of  five  thousand  British  sailors,  I 
would  agree  to  it  on  condition  that  the  British  will  relinquish 
impressments  and  agree  to  those  reasonable  modifications  founded 
on  reciprocity  in  the  3d  and  5th  and  colonial  articles,  which  our 
examination  of  the  subject  and  the  opinion  of  the  gentlemen  we 
have  consulted  have  suggested.  Will  you  have  the  goodness  to 
inform  me  when  you  expect  to  return  ?  My  health  requires  a 
short  excursion,  and  I  wish  to  time  it  so  as  to  be  here  at  that 
time. 

With  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

WASHINGTON,  June  25,  1807,  5.30  P.M. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  am  sorry  to  be  obliged  to  hasten  your  return 
to  this  place,  and  pray  that  it  may  be  without  a  moment's  avoid 
able  delay.  The  capture  of  the  Chesapeake  by  a  British  ship  of 
war  renders  it  necessary  to  have  all  our  council  together.  The 
mail  is  closing.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 


HAVKE  DE  GRACE,  Monday  evening,  29th  June.  1807. 
DEAR  SIR, — I  this  moment  received  your  letter,  which  Mr. 
Patton  sent  after  me.    I  am  so  much  fatigued  that  I  cannot  ride 
all  night  by  the  mail ;  but  I  will  be  with  you  on  Wednesday, 
about  2  or  3  o'clock,  afternoon. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


1807.  LETTERS,    ETC.  337 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

July  1,  1807. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr,  Gallatin. 

I  received  last  night  your  letter  from  Havre  de  Grace,  in  which 
you  count  on  being  here  to-day  by  two  o'clock.  It  will  save  a 
day  in  the  measures  we  may  determine  to  take  if  I  can  see  you 
soon  after  your  arrival.  If  you  arrive  before  half  after  three, 
come  and  take  a  family  dinner  with  me,  that  I  may  put  you  in 
possession  of  what  is  under  contemplation,  so  that  you  may 
have  to  reflect  on  it  till  to-morrow,  when,  as  you  will  see  by 
another  note,  I  have  asked  a  meeting.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  Tuesday,  7th  July,  1807. 
DEAR  SIR, — I  was  in  the  act  of  writing  you  a  note  when  I 
received  yours,  together  with  enclosures.  Being  at  this  moment 
under  the  operation  of  medicine,  I  cannot  wait  on  you  this 
morning.  If  I  am  able,  I  will  go  to  you  this  evening.  It 
appears  to  me  that  the  only  thing  which  can  be  done  to-day  is 
to  send  orders  for  making  the  best  defence  in  case  of  attack., 
But  it  is  probable  that  the  information  of  Dr.  Bullus  is  correct,, 
and  that  the  intention  of  the  British  is  rather  to  blockade  than 
to  attack.  Has  the  order  been  sent  to  Decatur  to  offer  water  to 
the  squadron  if  they  will  depart  ?  Would  it  be  possible  to  send 
from  some  other  port,  Philadelphia  or  New  York,  one  or  more 
pilot-boats  to  cruise  off  the  Chesapeake,  in  order  to  give  notice  to> 
inward-bound  vessels  to  sail  to  another  port? 

Yours  respectfully. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

July  16,  1807. 

If  Mr.  Gallatin  will  be  so  good  as  to  call  on  Th.  J.  on  his; 
arrival  at  the  office,  the  other  gentlemen  will  then  attend  on 
VOL.  i. — 23 


338  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIK.  1807. 

being  notified,  and  consider  the  subject  of  Mr.  Gallatin's  letter 
received  yesterday.  It  is  the  more  necessary,  as  everything  else 
is  ready  for  the  departure  of  the  vessel.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JOSEPH  H.  NICHOLSON. 

WASHINGTON,  17th  July,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  yours  enclosing  152  dollars  for 
Mrs.  Seney,  which  I  will  forward  to  her  by  this  day's  mail  in  a 
draft  on  New  York. 

With  you,  I  believe  that  war  is  inevitable ;  and  there  can  be 
but  one  opinion  on  the  question  whether  the  claims  of  the  parties 
prior  to  the  attack  on  the  Chesapeake  should  be  a  subject  of 
discussion.  There  were  but  two  courses  to  be  taken, — either  to 
consider  the  attack  as  war,  and  retaliate  immediately,  or,  on  the 
supposition  that  that  act  might  be  that  of  an  unauthorized  officer, 
to  ask  simply,  and  without  discussion,  disavowal,  satisfaction, 
and  security  against  a  recurrence  of  outrages.  The  result  will,  in 
my  opinion,  be  the  same,  for  Great  Britain  will  not,  I  am  confi 
dent,  give  either  satisfaction  or  security;  but  the  latter  mode, 
which,  as  you  may  have  perceived  by  the  President's  proclama 
tion  and  his  answer  to  military  corps,  has  been  adopted,  Avas 
recommended  not  only  by  the  nature  of  our  Constitution,  which 
does  not  make  the  President  arbiter  of  war,  but  also  by  the 
practice  of  civilized  nations  ^  and  the  cases  of  Turk's  Island, 
Falkland  Islands,  Nootka  Sound,  &c.,  are  in  point  in  that 
respect.  Add  to  this  that  the  dissatisfaction  caused  by  that 
course  operates  only  against  the  Administration,  and  that  the 
other  will  produce  an  unanimity  in  support  of  the  war  which 
would  not  otherwise  have  existed.  It  will  also  make  our  cause 
completely  popular  with  the  Baltic  powers,  and  may  create  new 
enemies  to  Britain  in  that  quarter.  Finally,  four  months  were 
of  importance  to  us,  both  by  diminishing  the  losses  of  our  mer 
chants  and  for  preparations  of  defence  and  attack. 

I  will,  however,  acknowledge  that  on  that  particular  point  I 
have  not  bestowed  much  thought,  for,  having  considered  from 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  339 

the  first  moment  war  as  a  necessary  result,  and  the  preliminaries 
appearing  to  me  but  matters  of  form,  my  faculties  have  been  ex 
clusively  applied  to  the  preparations  necessary  to  meet  the  times ; 
and  although  I  am  not  very  sanguine  as  to  the  brilliancy  of  our 
exploits,  the  field  where  we  can  act  without  a  navy  being  very 
limited,  and  perfectly  aware  that  a  war  in  a  great  degree  passive 
and  consisting  of  privations  will  become  very  irksome  to  the 
people,  I  feel  no  apprehension  of  the  ultimate  result.  We  will 
be  poorer,  both  as  a  nation  and  as  a  government,  our  debt  and 
taxes  will  increase,  and  our  progress  in  every  respect  be  inter 
rupted.  But  all  those  evils  are  not  only  not  to  be  put  in  com 
petition  with  the  independence  and  honor  of  the  nation ;  they 
are,  moreover,  temporary,  and  very  few  years  of  peace  will  oblit 
erate  their  effects.  ISFor  do  I  know  whether  the  awakening  of 
nobler  feelings  and  habits  than  avarice  and  luxury  might  not  be 
necessary  to  prevent  our  degenerating,  like  the  Hollanders,  into 
a  nation  of  mere  calculators.  In  fact,  the  greatest  mischiefs 
which  I  apprehend  from  the  war  are  the  necessary  increase  of 
executive  power  and  influence,  the  speculations  of  contractors 
and  jobbers,  and  the  introduction  of  permanent  military  and 
naval  establishments. 

Money  we  will  want  to  carry  on  the  war ;  our  revenue  will  be 
cut  up ;  new  and  internal  taxes  will  be  slow  and  not  sufficiently 
productive ;  we  must  necessarily  borrow.  This  is  not  pleasing 
particularly  to  me ;  but  it  must  be  done ;  for  whilst  we  must 
avoid  expenses  for  inefficient  operations  and  waste,  as  far  as  is 
practicable,  the  expense,  provided  we  can  by  any  method  what 
ever  defray  it,  must  never  be  an  objection  to  any  necessary 
measure  of  defence,  or  to  any  rational  active  operations  against 
the  enemy.  We  have  about  eight  millions  in  the  Treasury,  and 
from  a  very  rough  estimate  I  think  that  we  will  want  to  borrow 
about  ten  millions  annually  whilst  the  war  lasts;  rather  less, 
however,  the  first  year,  although  it  will  be  the  most  expensive. 
People  will  fight,  but  they  never  give  their  money  for  nothing. 
Patriotic  gifts  and  loyalty  loans  cannot  be  depended  upon ;  we 
must  buy  money  at  its  market  price,  and  in  order  to  borrow 
cheaper  it  will  be  necessary  to  keep  up  the  price  of  stocks  by 
occasional  purchases.  All  this  is,  of  course,  between  ourselves. 


340  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1807. 

But  as  I  think  that  our  first  loans  must  be  obtained  from  the 
banks,  and  you  are  a  bank  director,  I  will  thank  you  to  sound 
the  ground  on  that  subject.  With  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 
I  will  treat  separately ;  but  the  best  course  would  perhaps  [be] 
that  the  directors  of  all  the  other  banks  of  Baltimore  should 
consult  together  and  see  what  in  their  opinion  might  be  loaned. 
From  the  extent  of  banking  capital  there  and  the  great  diminu 
tion  which  will  take  place  in  commerce,  and  therefore  in  their 
business,  I  am  confident  they  might  lend  one-half  of  their  capi 
tal  to  government  without  any  inconvenience  either  to  the  mer 
cantile  interest  or  to  themselves.  The  periods  both  of  their 
advance  and  of  the  reimbursement,  as  well  as  the  manner  of 
throwing  the  thing  into  form,  would  be  a  matter  of  detail.  Will 
you  consult  with  General  Smith,  who  is  connected  with  other 
banks,  on  that  subject?  I  will  write  to  him  about  it  to-day  or 
to-morrow.  I  mean  to  make  similar  informal  overtures  in  the 
other  seaports ;  and  it  would  have  a  good  effect  both  here  and 
abroad  to  be  able  to  state  to  Congress  that  resources  are  already 
prepared.  The  war  may  be  of  shorter  continuance  if  the  enemy 
receives  an  early  impression  that  we  are  willing  and  able  to  hold 
out. 

Yours  sincerely. 

GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

July  25,  1807. 

DEAR,  SIR, — I  enclose  a  list  of  our  seaports,  showing,  by  the 
respective  amount  of  tonnage  -belonging  to  each,  of  their  annual 
exports,  and  of  their  annual  payments  into  the  Treasury,  their 
relative  importance  as  to  navigation,  commerce,  and  revenue. 

I  wanted  also  to  take  a  general  view  of  all  the  measures  for 
defence  and  attack  which  might  become  a  proper  subject  of 
consideration  at  this  time ;  because,  however  incorrect  I  might 
be  in  many  respects,  it  was  the  best  mode  not  to  forget  anything. 
But  I  have  been  so  unwell  and  my  head  so  muddy  that  I  was 
unable  to  analyze  the  subject  in  a  manner  satisfactory  to  myself. 
Such  as  it  is,  I,  however,  enclose  my  memorandum,  as  it  may  at 
all  events  contain  something  which  might  otherwise  have  been 
omitted. 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  341 

I  will  only  add  that  if  the  British  Ministry  is  possessed  of 
energy,  and  that  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt,  we  must  expect  an 
efficient  fleet  on  our  coast  late  this  autumn,  with  perhaps  a  few 
thousand  land  forces,  for  the  purpose  of  winter  operations  in  the 
South.  Their  great  object  of  attack  will  be  one  of  four  places, 
according  to  seasons  and  circumstances, — New  York,  Norfolk, 
Charleston  (or  perhaps  Savannah),  New  Orleans. 


[Enclosure.] 

MEMORANDUM  OF  PREPARATORY   MEASURES 

which  may  be  adopted  by  the  Executive  in  relation  to  war, 
defensive  and  offensive. 
Defensive. 

1.  Arms  and  ammunition,  repairs  of  artillery,  particularly 
carriages,  and  making  new  (common  and  travelling)  carriages. 

Purchase  and  fabrication  of  mortars  and  heavy  cannon  for 
batteries. 

Purchase  of  and  contracting  for  saltpetre  and  sulphur  at  home 
and  abroad. 

Note. — In  estimating  the  quantity  wanted,  take  in  view  the 
offensive  operations,  and  the  great  consumption  by  heavy  artil 
lery  on  batteries  and  gunboats ;  by  do.  in  sieges ;  by  navy ;  by 
privateers ;  also  the  usual  average  expended  in  each  campaign 
by  a  given  number  of  men,  and  the  waste  by  militia;  finally, 
the  obstructions  to  importation  in  time  of  war,  the  East  Indies 
being  out  of  question,  and  the  article  contraband. 

Purchase,  fabrication,  contracting  for  muskets,  pistols,  swords, 
and  other  cavalry  accoutrements. 

Note. — The  necessity  of  arming  (by  sale  or  otherwise)  the 
militia  in  actual  service  in  various  quarters  of  the  Union  to  be 
considered. 

Transportation  of  heavy  artillery  and  ammunition,  so  that  the 
batteries  may  be  immediately  mounted. 

Note. — Our  sea-coast  navigation  being  still  unobstructed,  the 
opportunity  of  supplying  those  places  for  which  it  may,  during 
the  war,  be  difficult  to  provide,  should  not  be  neglected. 

2.  Batteries  and  fortifications. 


342  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

Places  where  batteries  and  only  batteries  (to  be  guarded  by 
only  a  few  men,  and  manned  by  the  nearest  militia  in  case  of 
attack)  are  wanted. 

Note. — It  is  impossible  to  protect  every  landing-point  of  such 
a  coast  as  that  of  the  United  States.  The  table  of  seaports 
herewith  transmitted  shows  their  respective  importance.  All 
those  places  which  deserve  the  name  of  towns,  and  which,  by  the 
shipping  they  contain,  or  as  deposits  of  produce  and  merchandise, 
offer  a  temptation  of  plunder  or  destruction,  ought  to  have  at 
least  a  battery  to  protect  them  against  attacks  by  a  single  frigate 
or  any  other  small  force. 

Places  which  from  their  importance  require  some  stronger 
defence  than  a  common  battery  may  be  divided  into  twro  classes: 

1.  Those  which  from  the  forts  already  erected,  the  difficulty 
of  access,  and  the  adjacent  population,  offer  few  difficulties  and 
require  only  attention,  repairs,  artillery,  and  perhaps  some  ad 
ditional  garrison.  They  appear  to  me  to  be  the  following,  viz. : 

Portsmouth,  N.  H. — deep  Avater,  but  narrow,  defensible  chan 
nel. 

Newburyport — a  bar-harbor. 

Salem — a  tide-harbor,  but  heavy  shipping  exposed. 

Boston — Castle  William  a  good  defence;  but  from  its  im 
portance  this  port  may  require  some  town-forts,  and  something 
in  Nantasket  Roads. 

Providence — very  high  up. 

New  London,  Say  brook,  New  Haven. — As  several  of  those 
ports  were  burnt  by  the  British  during  the  Revolutionary  war, 
some  fort  should  defend  the  entrance  of  each. 

Philadelphia — Mud  Island  and  bar.     Population. 

Wilmington,  Del.,  may  want  something  more  than  a  battery. 
Quere. 

Baltimore — Fort  McHenry,  shallow  water.     Population. 

James  River — a  point  to  be  selected  below  City  Point  which 
may  protect  the  immense  deposits  of  produce  at  Petersburg  and 
Richmond. 

Ocracoke  will  be  important  outlet  in  time  of  war,  easily  de 
fended  ;  but  must  have  i  garrison  and  gunboats,  there  being  no 
population.  Quere,  whether  the  danger  of  a  fort  being  taken 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  343 

by  the  enemy  does  not  render  it  eligible  to  defend  it  only  by  a 
battery  and  gunboats. 

Wilmington,  X.  C. — shallow  water,  but  requires  a  fort  above 
new  inlet.  Population  very  scattered. 

Charleston — bar  and  Sullivan's  island ;  but  must  be  attended 
to.  It  is,  next  to  New  York,  the  greatest  deposit  of  domestic 
produce,  and  in  war-time  may  be  greater  still.  Depth  of  water 
at  the  bar : 

Low  Water.  High  Water. 

Neap  tides,  12J  feet.  17J  feet. 

Springtides,  11J    "  19^     « 

2.  Those  which,  from  either  great  facility  of  access  by  land 
or  water,  weakness  of  population,  importance  as  compared  with 
the  means  sufficient  to  take  them,  or  difficulties  attending  the 
protection,  require  particular  attention  and  more  powerful  means 
of  defence,  viz., 

Portland — was  burnt — is  quite  open. 

Newport,  New  York — need  no  comment.  But  the  plan  of  de 
fending  the  approaches  of  New  York  by  narrowing  the  channel 
at  the  most  convenient  place  may  require  the  immediate  atten 
tion  and  countenance  of  the  Executive,  as,  under  their  auspices, 
it  might  be  at  once  commenced  by  the  city.  I  think  it  the  only 
plan  which  will  give  real  security.  Its  practicability  and  expense 
must  be  examined. 

Washington  will  be  an  object,  in  order  to  destroy  the  ships 
and  naval  stores ;  but  particularly  as  a  stroke  which  would  give 
the  enemy  reputation  and  attach  disgrace  to  us.  The  Potomac 
may  be  easily  defended.  But  an  active  enemy  might  land  at 
Annapolis,  march  to  the  city,  and  re-embark  before  the  militia 
could  be  collected  to  repel  him. 

Norfolk — forts  and  gunboats  may  defend  the  approaches  by 
water;  for  the  depth  of  water  is  such  that  a  74,  injured  by  those 
near  the  town,  could  hardly  repass  the  narrow  channel  below. 
In  that  narrow  channel  perhaps  some  work  may  also  be  erected. 
But  I  think  the  great  danger  to  be  by  land.  The  white  popula 
tion  is  weak.  Three  thousand  men  landing  at  Lynn  Haven  Bay, 
within  eight  miles  from  Norfolk,  might  certainly  burn  it,  or  take 
the  batteries,  open  the  way  to  their  fleet,  destroy  the  shipping, 


344  WEITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

plunder  the  town.  I  see  no  remedy  but  a  sufficient  garrison, 
and  such  intrenchments  as  could  not  be  carried  without  regular 
approaches  and  would  give  time  to  the  militia  to  assemble  and 
raise  the  siege.  Or  the  place  must  be  considered  as  indefensible, 
and  another  place  of  deposit  for  produce  substituted. 

Savannah — water  shallow;  but  three  or  four  millions  of 
produce  sometimes  deposited  there,  and  the  extreme  want  of 
white  population  in  all  the  country  near  it  might  offer  induce 
ment  to  land  a  force  sufficient  to  plunder  the  place.  A  garrison 
seems  also  the  only  remedy. 

New  Orleans,  like  Savannah  and  Norfolk,  cannot  be  defended 
by  its  population  alone.  Its  defences,  in  support  of  gunboats  in 
the  river  and  on  the  lake,  should  be  strong  forts  at  Plaquemine 
and  St.  John.  A  garrison  and  forts  in  the  city  do  not  appear 
to  be  of  any  use.  If  an  enemy  lands  on  terra  firma,  he  will 
take  the  town  and  garrison,  and  we  must  retake  it  from  the 
upper  country.  But  with  a  moderate  force,  properly  distributed 
on  water  and  in  the  forts,  which  command  the  navigation,  it 
is  the  most  easily  defended  place,  of  equal  importance,  in  the 
United  States. 

3.  Gunboats  and  water  defences. 

Those  already  authorized  to  be  finished  and  properly  dis 
tributed.  Timber  to  build  more,  but  applicable  generally  to 
navy,  to  be  contracted  for. 

The  practicability  of  preventing  an  enemy  from  keeping  pos 
session  of  the  Chesapeake  by  anything  short  of  a  superior  naval 
force,  to  be  inquired  into. 

4.  Men.     Artillery  and  other  corps  to  be  immediately  filled 
aud  over-filled. 

Quere :  Has  the  President  any  power  to  increase  the  number 
of  men  in  each  company  ? 

An  organization  of  the  militia,  whereby,  in  case  of  attack  on 
any  point,  a  certain  portion  may  always  be  ready  to  march 
there ;  regularity  may  be  introduced ;  useless  expense  avoided ; 
require  the  sanction  of  Congress.  But,  this  being  the  great 
means  of  defence,  the  most  eligible  and  practicable  plans  should 
be  digested  for  the  consideration  of  that  body. 

The  number  of  artillery  and  other  regulars  wanted  to  garrison 


1807.  LETTERS,    ETC.  345 

the  forts  on  our  sea-coasts  should  also  be  ascertained,  so  as  to  be 
ready  for  Congress  when  they  meet. 

The  northern  or  Indian  frontier  to  be  considered  in  connection 
with  the  preparations  for  attack. 


Offensive  operations  may,  in  the  first  instance,  be  directed 
against  Upper  Canada,  Lower  Canada,  New  Brunswick,  Nova 
Scotia,  Bermuda,  New  Providence,  Newfoundland. 

Upper  Canada — necessary  to  be  taken  in  order  to  cover  our 
northern  frontier  and  to  ruin  the  British  fur-trade.  Points  of 
attack  designated  by  nature, — Detroit  and  Niagara.  Detroit 
may  be  approached : 

1.  Through  the  wilderness  from  Upper  Miami  or  Scioto. 
2.  More  easily  by  land  and  water  from  Connecticut  settlements 
on  Lake  Erie.  The  provisions  and  magazines  must  necessarily 
be  sent  that  way.  Provisions  will  be  supplied  by  Connecticut 
Reserve,  and  settlements  on  Ohio,  Alleghany,  Muskingum. 

The  force  may  be  drawn,  if  first  route,  from  Ohio  and  Ken 
tucky  ;  but  if  from  Lake  Erie,  from  Ohio  and,  perhaps,  partly 
from  Pennsylvania.  Fifteen  hundred  men,  in  addition  to  Mich 
igan  militia,  appear  sufficient.  Subsequent  operations  in  that 
quarter  will  be : 

Reduction  of  Fort  Huron  and  Grand  Portage,  destroying 
fortifications,  intercepting  the  fur  returns  in  the  spring. 

Securing  the  country  against  the  Indians  and  disaffected 
Canadians,  by  a  small  naval  force  on  Lakes  Michigan  and 
Huron ;  a  small,  strong  post  at  St.  Mary's  Fall.  Strong 
detachments,  say  500  each,  at  Detroit,  Michilimackinac,  and 
Chicago. 

Niagara  may  be  approached : 

1.  From  Alleghany,  by  which  route  Western  Pennsylvania 
militia  may  march. 

2.  From  Genesee,  by  land  and  Lake  Ontario,  which  is  the 
route  of  provisions  and  magazines. 

The  force  must  be  drawn  from  Upper  Pennsylvania,  on 
Alleghany  and  Susquehanna,  and  from  western  parts  of  New 
York. 


346  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1807. 

Its  extent  must  depend  on  the  British  force  and  temper  of 
inhabitants. 

Lower  Canada  must  be  taken  as  far  down  as  Montreal,  to  cut 
up  the  communication  with  Indians  and  Upper  Canada. 
'     The  taking  of  Quebec  will  better  secure  the  object.     At  all 
events,  it  would  be  better  to  have  the  seat  of  war  between  Montreal 
and  Quebec  than  predatory  incursions  at  home. 

Points  of  attack  are,  Kingston,  at  lower  end  of  Lake  Ontario. 

Montreal  and  Point  Sorel,  by  Champlain  and  St.  John. 

Quebec,  by  Kennebec,  &c. 

Kingston  and  adjoining  country  must  be  attacked  by  militia 
from  the  adjacent  New  York  settlements,  which  will  afford  also 
the  provisions.  Will  500  men  be  sufficient?  Montreal,  the  great 
point  of  attack,  must  of  course  be  attacked  by  Lake  Champlain, 
through  which  troops,  provisions,  artillery,  and  magazines  will  be 
transported. 

The  force  to  be  drawn  from  New  York  can  be  but  moderate, 
as  part  of  the  militia  of  that  State  will  be  employed  against 
Niagara  and  Kingston,  and  nothing  can  be  taken  from  the  city 
and  its  vicinity.  But  in  the  employment  of  militia,  the  distance 
from  which  they  are  taken  becomes  so  important  a  point  of  ex 
pense,  that  a  part  must  be  taken  from  that  State.  Vermont,  in 
the  first  place,  and  a  portion  of  the  nearest  parts  of  New  Hamp 
shire,  Massachusetts,  and  Connecticut,  should  supply  the  rest.  If 
more  are  wanted,  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  must  furnish  it. 
The  mass  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  and  Rhode  Island 
must  be  reserved  for  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia.  From 
the  States  south  of  Pennsylvania  I  would  draw  nothing  for  the 
North,  because  they  are  too  distant  and  not  used  to  the  climate ; 
[besides]  that  none  can  be  spared  from  the  negro  country,  and 
they  will  be  wanted  for  Norfolk,  Charleston,  and  Savannah,  and 
New  Orleans. 

The  extent  of  the  force  must  depend,  for  this  winter,  on  the 
question  whether  Quebec  can  be  attacked.  Considering  the  late 
ness  of  the  season  when  active  operations  can  commence,  I  should 
think  that  if  regular  approaches  are  necessary,  that  place  can 
not  be  attacked  before  spring.  If  that  opinion  is  correct,  4  or 
5000  men  might  be  sufficient  to  take  and  occupy  the  country 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  347 

as  low  down  as  Trois  Rivieres.  Quebec  may  be  approached  by 
Kennebec  or  Montreal.  But  I  think  that  an  operation  by  the 
first  route  should  be  only  for  a  feint,  and  to  distract  and  divide 
the  force  of  the  enemy.  The  principal  attack  must  be  from 
Montreal.  The  British  force  does  not  exceed  two  regiments  of 
regulars,  but  may  be  reinforced  even  this  autumn,  and  will  cer 
tainly  be  so  early  in  the  spring.  Our  operations  should  there 
fore  commence  against  that  place  extremely  early,  which  will 
require  every  preparation  of  artillery  for  a  siege — provisions  and 
magazines — to  be  made  in  winter,  and  moved  as  far  down  St. 
Lawrence  as  possible.  Not  less  than  8000  men  will  be  wanted 
to  take  and  aftenvards  to  defend  the  country.  But  I  think  that 
if  we  take  Quebec,  the  fortifications  should,  on  the  land  side,  be 
levelled  to  the  ground,  depending  on  our  troops  to  defend  the 
country,  and  disabling  the  enemy  from  occupying  so  strong  a 
place  against  us  if  they  shall  make  an  attempt  to  retake  Canada. 
In  that  case,  if  they  have  no  strong  place,  they  must  evacuate 
the  country  before  winter,  or  run  the  risk  of  all  being  taken  in 
winter.  It  is  improbable,  because  it  would  be  impolitic  on  their 
part,  that  they  shall  attempt  to  reconquer  the  country  ;  and  per 
haps  a  less  force  may  be  sufficient  on  that  account  to  defend  it. 
A  naval  force  calculated  to  defend  the  river  above  a  given  point 
should  make  a  part  of  the  system.  It  will  also  be  necessary  to 
consider  what  should  be  the  point  where  to  retreat  and  make  a 
stand  in  case  of  disaster,  and  to  provide  accordingly — Quere, 
Point  Sorel,  or  some  point  below  it,  which  may  defend  the  ap-  j 
proaches  both  to  Montreal  and  to  Lake  Champlain.  */ 

New  Brunswick  is  important  as  leading  us  to  Nova  Scotia, 
and  as  cutting  off  the  communication  between  that  colony  and 
Quebec.  It  can  only  be  approached  from  Maine  by  land  and 
water.  Provisions  must  be  taken  from  Portland  and  Kennebec 
by  water.  The  eastern  county  of  Maine  cannot  supply  them. 
Some  small  armed  vessels  may  be  necessary.  If  the  brigs  in  the 
Mediterranean  come  in  time,  they  would  answer.  The  British 
force  consists  of  only  a  regiment  of  fencibles.  Our  force,  if  this 
winter's  operations  be  limited  to  St.  John's,  which  is  only  forty 
miles  from  our  boundary,  may  be  drawn  entirely  from  Maine 
and  New  Hampshire. 


348  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

Fort  Cumberland  on  the  isthmus  is  (I  believe)  150  miles  be 
yond  St.  John's  River,  intermediate  country  thinly  inhabited, 
and  bad  roads.  A  considerable  settlement  in  the  vicinity  of  Fort 
Cumberland,  both  in  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia.  It  would 
be  important  to  make  a  lodgment  there  this  winter.  But  it 
would  require  4000  men  to  be  secured,  and  all  the  provisions, 
artillery,  magazines,  must  be  transported  by  water.  The  reason 
why,  if  Nova  Scotia  is  not  attempted  this  winter,  I  think  the 
occupation  of  New  Brunswick,  and  particularly  Cumberland, 
important  is,  that  such  position  threatening  Halifax  will,  even 
if  we  are  unable  to  attack  that  place,  compel  the  British  to 
keep  there  all  their  land  forces,  and  secure  us  against  land  attacks 
in  our  vulnerable  southern  points. 

Nova  Scotia  is  to  us  the  most  important  colony  to  occupy,  on 
account  of  Halifax,  and  the  most  difficult  to  take,  on  account 
of  its  peninsular  situation,  and  of  the  difficulty  and  distance  of 
land  communication  through  the  eastern  part  of  Maine  and 
New  Brunswick.  But  so  long  as  the  British  hold  Halifax  they 
will  be  able,  by  the  superiority  of  their  naval  force,  to  blockade, 
during  the  greater  part  of  the  year,  all  our  principal  seaports, 
and  particularly  New  York,  including  the  Sound,  Philadelphia, 
the  Chesapeake,  and  Charleston.  If  we  take  it,  the  difficulty  to 
refit  and  obtain  refreshments  will  greatly  diminish  that  evil,  and 
enable  us  to  draw  some  advantage  from  our  small  navy  on  our 
own  coast.  Add  to  this,  that  being  compelled  to  keep  a  strong 
land  force  at  Halifax,  they  will,  whenever  they  may  perceive 
that  there  is  no  immediate  danger  of  attack  from  us,  detach 
occasionally  corps  of  3  or  4000  men  to  co-operate  with  their  fleet 
and  make  predatory  descents  in  various  parts. 

Halifax  is  the  point  of  attack,  and  may  be  approached,  1,  by 
marching  round  via  Cumberland,  which  will  perhaps  be  the  only 
practicable  route,  but,  for  reasons  already  mentioned,  will  prove 
a  difficult  route  for  provisions,  artillery,  &c. ;  2,  by  landing  at 
some  of  the  harbors  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  Halifax ;  which, 
considering  the  naval  superiority  of  the  British  and  the  distance 
from  our  nearest  port,  appears  not  practicable ;  3,  by  crossing 
Bay  Fundy  from  the  nearest  seaport,  and  landing  at  Windsor  in 
the  Basin  of  Mines.  The  distance  is  short,  and  the  passage  may 


1807.  LETTEES,    ETC.  349 

by  watching  a  proper  opportunity  be  effected.  By  this,  the  whole 
distance  through  the  difficult  parts  of  the  march  is  avoided ;  and 
the  port  may  be  kept  against  naval  attacks;  for  although  you 
have  40  feet  water,  ships  lie  dry  every  tide ;  indeed,  no  large 
ship  would  venture  there,  and  if 'she  did  would  be  destroyed. 
Windsor  is  the  best  settlement  in  the  province,  40  miles  from 
Halifax,  and  a  good  road ;  it  lies  also  precisely  on  the  road  from 
Halifax  (which  forks  there)  to  Cumberland  and  to  Annapolis, 
each  of  which  lies  about  80  miles  further, — the  first  northwest, 
the  other  southwest, — and  are  the  two  next  best  settlements.  By 
landing  at  Windsor,  the  garrisons  of  those  two  places  would  be 
cut  off,  and  Halifax  reached  in  two  or  three  days.  It  does  not 
seem  to  me  that  it  is  more  difficult  or  dangerous  to  cross  Bay 
Fundy  than  to  coast  all  around  it,  which  must  be  done  if  the 
Cumberland  road  is  taken.  Of  this,  however,  military  men  can 
alone  judge,  and  by  them,  also,  must  be  decided  the  question 
whether  Halifax  can  be  attempted  this  winter  (which,  for  similar 
reasons  to  those  stated  in  relation  to  Quebec,  appears  impracti 
cable)  ;  and  if  not,  whether  a  landing  should  be  made  this  au 
tumn  at  Windsor.  In  relation  to  those  operations  generally,  it 
may  be  observed  that  two  frigates  as  convoy  either  to  Cumber 
land  or  Windsor  might  be  risked.  In  that  case,  that  from  the 
Mediterranean  and  the  Chesapeake  might  be  used ;  the  Chesa 
peake  going  whilst  she  can,  first  to  New  York,  in  order  to  con 
ceal  the  object,  and,  at  the  moment  of  action,  through  the  Sound, 
if  necessary,  to  the  eastAvard. 

The  force  now  at  Halifax  consists  of  two  regiments  of  regulars 
and  one  fencible.  But  they  may  and  undoubtedly  will  be  rein 
forced  this  autumn  and  winter. 

The  force  to  be  employed  against  Nova  Scotia  must  necessarily 
be  drawn  principally  from  the  New  England  States;  and,  what 
ever  route  be  taken,  10  or  12,000  men  seem  necessary.  A  force 
not  much  inferior  must  be  kept  to  defend  it,  and  it  will  not  be 
easy  to  supply  it  with  provisions,  &c.  I  should  also  think  that 
the  land  fortifications  should  be  destroyed,  leaving  only  the  forts 
and  batteries  which  defend  the  harbor. 

Bermuda  and  New  Providence  will  be  important,  as  affording 
stations  to  British  privateers  and  affording  refreshments  to  their 


350  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

fleet  on  our  coast.  I  think  they  might  both  be  taken  by  small 
armaments  from  the  Southern  States ;  Bermuda  to  be  retained 
and  garrisoned ;  the  vessels  and  forts  in  Providence  to  be  de 
stroyed  and  the  place  evacuated.  But  whether  the  advantages 
be  worth  the  expense  and  risk,  particularly  as  relates  to  the  per 
manent  occupation  of  Bermuda,  is  a  doubtful  question. 

Newfoundland. — It  is  true  that  a  landing  in  summer  would 
materially  injure  the  fisheries  for  that  year.  But  the  British 
keep  always  for  their  protection  a  fleet  of  sufficient  strength 
during  that  season.  The  object,  being  of  a  more  remote  nature, 
may  be  kept  for  future  consideration. 

Measures  to  be  adopted  or  considered  at  present  in  relation  to 
those  offensive  operations : 

1.  All  the  artillery,  ammunition,  tents,  and  other  camp-equi 
page  necessary  for  each  of  the  expeditions  agreed  on  should  be 
prepared  and  transported  to  the  places  of  rendezvous,  viz.,  to 
Lake  Erie,  Genesee,  Lake  Champlain,  and  Portland  or  Boston, 
or  to  such  other  places  sufficiently  near  the  point  of  departure. 
But  considering  the  time  when  active  operations  can  commence, 
viz.,  middle  November,  if  not  later,  every  heavy  article  should  be 
moved  as  far  as  possible.     If  siege-artillery  particularly  is  not  so 
far  advanced  as  to  be  able  to  move  it  at  least  to  Point  Sorel  this 
autumn,  the  opening  of  the  next  campaign  may  be  much  delayed. 

2.  The  provisions  for  at  least  three  months'  supply,  and  I 
think  six  months  would  be  better,  should  be  immediately  pur 
chased  or  contracted  for,  having  them  deposited  in  time  at  the 
same  places  as  above. 

3.  A  sufficiency  of  bateaux  for  the  transportation  on  the  sev 
eral  lakes  should  be  also  provided.     As  to  transports  on  the 
coast  of  Maine  for  New  Brunswick  and  Nova  Scotia,  the  em 
bargo  by  Congress  will  give  enough  to  us. 

4.  Every  effort  should  be  made  to  obtain  twelve  months7  vol 
unteers  under  the  last  Act  of  Congress,  instead  of  six  months' 
militia  or  volunteers.      The  subject  should  be  pressed  to  the 
governors  and  confidential  militia  officers. 

5.  A  question  of  more  doubtful  nature  here  presents  itself. 
Shall  the  troops  which  are  to  act  this  winter  be  embodied  and 


1807.  LETTERS,    ETC.  351 

marched  to  the  places  from  which  the  attacks  are  intended  before 
Congress  meets  ?  I  incline  to  that  opinion,  because,  if  we  wait 
till  then,  it  will  be  so  late  before  the  troops  are  collected  that  we 
must  have  altogether  a  winter  campaign,  which  in  such  climate 
appears  difficult,  if  at  all  practicable.  The  middle  of  November 
will  decide  the  question.  If  we  have  peace,  one  or  two  millions 
of  dollars  thus  expended  will  not  be  felt,  and  our  readiness  thus 
displayed  will  have  a  favorable  eifect  on  all  our  foreign  relations. 
If  we  have  war,  and  we  shall  have  waited  without  doing  this, 
the  President  will  be  charged  with  neglect,  and  the  more  so,  as 
the  law  had  not  only  authorized  the  embodying  of  the  militia, 
but  made  a  large  appropriation  for  the  expense. 

6.  Information  of  the  most  detailed  nature,  by  writing  to,  or 
rather  sending  confidential  officers,  should  be  obtained  on  all  the 
points  relative  to  the  intended  operations,  and  particularly :  1 . 
The  actual  British  regular  force  at  every  post  in  every  colony ; 
the  state  of  their  discipline;  the  character  of  the  commanders. 
2.  The  militia  force  on  which  the  British  might  count  at  each 
post  and  in  each  colony ;  the  temper  of  the  inhabitants ;  whether 
armed,  &c.  3.  The  amount  of  this  crop ;  of  provisions  gener 
ally  to  be  obtained  in  either  Canadas,  New  Brunswick,  Nova 
Scotia.  4.  The  precise  situation  of  every  fort  (particularly  those 
to  be  attacked  this  winter) ;  wrhether  requiring  regular  approaches ; 
in  good  repair ;  how  garrisoned  and  supplied ;  also  the  situation 
of  their  magazines.  5.  Particular  maps  or  sketches  on  large 
scale,  showing  the  roads  now  opened,  adjacent  population,  natu 
ral  obstacles,  and  other  points  connected  with  a  military  enter 
prise.  This  is  particularly  wanted  for  Upper  Canada  and  New 
Brunswick.  6.  Practicability  and  means  of  crossing  Detroit  and 
Niagara  Rivers ;  whether,  as  it  relates  to  those  points,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  wait  until  they  are  frozen,  &c. 

Observe,  generally,  that  as  General  Dearborn  will  go  to  Ken- 
nebec,  he  may  in  person  acquire  the  required  information,  and 
make  the  necessary  arrangements  so  far  as  relates  to  Nova 
Scotia.  But  as  to  other  points,  must  not  a  general  super 
intendence  be  given  in  each  to  some  officer? 

Should  not  also  the  President  select  the  officers  who  are  to 
command,  and  a  communication  opened  with  them  ?  If  militia 


352 


WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN. 


1807. 


officers,  some  steps  should  be  taken  with  the  governors,  that 
good  major-generals  be  selected.  If  it  be  intended  that  Con 
gress  should,  as  soon  as  they  meet,  authorize  the  appointment 
of  general  officers,  should  not  the  proper  persons  be  immediately 
considered  ? 

I  think,  also,  that  a  complete  view  of  the  necessary  regular 
establishment  should  be  taken  and  digested  before  Congress 
meets.  And  if  not  prevented  by  the  difficulty  of  recruiting, 
I  think  it  should  be  commensurate  to  the  amount  of  troops  to 
be  employed  without  the  United  States  or  in  garrisons,  relying 
on  the  militia  for  their  proper  service,  defence  when  invaded, 
and  reinforcement  in  case  of  disasters  in  the  adjacent  provinces. 
If  recruiting  is  despaired  of  to  the  necessary  amount,  Congress 
must  authorize  twelve  months'  militia.  They  will  not  be  equal 
to  men  longer  disciplined,  and  will  prove  much  more  expensive ; 
but  will  be  far  preferable  to  six  months'  men.  Whether  regu 
lar  or  militia,  the  aggregate  will  not,  I  think,  fall  short  of  the 
following,  in  which  I  include  marines  on  shore  and  crews  of 
gunboats : 

Upper  Canada  and  Indians, 

New  Orleans, 


Charleston  and  Savannah, 
Chesapeake, 
New  York, 
Remainder  of  sea-coast, 


2,000 
3,500 
2,000 
2,500 
2,000 
2,000 
14,000 


Lower  Canada, 
Nova  Scotia, 

7,000 
9,000             16,000 

30,000 
Total  constantly  employed  on  shore  and 
gunboats,  30,000  at  $300,                         $9,000,000 
Navy,                                   $1,500,000  1 
Occasional  militia,                  1,000,000  1 
Ordnance,  transport,  &c.,                                   4,000,000 

fortifications,  &c., 
Interest  on  public  debt, 
All  civil  expenses, 

1,500,000  J    $13,000,000 
3,500,000  ) 
1,500,000  J        5,000,000 

$18,000,000 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  353 

Ways  and  means : 

Present  impost,  reduced  by  war  to  $8,000,000 

Additional  duties  and  taxes,  2,500,000 

Sales  of  land,  500,000 

$11,000,000 
Annual  loan,  *  7,000,000 

$18,000,000 

In  addition  to  which  we  must  annually  borrow  as  much  as  we 
are  obliged  to  pay  on  the  principal  of  the  old  debt. 


GALLATIN  TO   MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  15th  August,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  met  in  New  Jersey  Captain  Crafts,  of  the 
Neptune,  the  vessel  on.  board  of  which  were  Martin  and  Ware 
when  met  by  the  Melampus  in  the  Gulf  of  Biscay.  I  obtained 
from  him  the  enclosed  letter,  by  which  it  appears  that  they  were 
not  impressed,  but  deserted  from  the  Neptune  to  the  Melampus 
at  Plymouth. 

Will  it  be  of  any  use,  if  Captain  Crafts  happens  to  come  here,, 
to  obtain  his  affidavit  of  the  facts  ?  He  appears  in  conversation 
to  be  a  very  decent  and  intelligent  man. 

Yesterday  brought  us  the  news  of  the  Russian  defeat  of  the 
14th  June.  We  have  nothing  else  here.  The  people  of  this 
city  do  not  appear  to  me  to  be  in  favor  of  war,  and  they  fear 
it  so  much,  that  they  have  persuaded  themselves  that  there  is  no> 
danger  of  that  event. 

Yours  sincerely.. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 


YORK,  26th  August,  1807.. 
DEAR  SIR,  —  You  have,  I  presume,  heard  of  the  death  of  the 
commissioner  of  loans  of  Connecticut.     I  have  not  received  any 
applications  on  the  subject,  but  doubtless  you.  have;;  and  I  will 
VOL.  i.—  24 


354  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1807. 

only  observe  that  it  is  an  office  which  must  be  filled  immedi 
ately,  as,  no  deputy  being  allowed,  everything  is  at  a  stand-still 
until  a  successor  be  appointed.  If  you  have  obtained  sufficient 
information,  it  would  be  eligible  that  you  should  direct  the 
Department  of  State  to  issue  the  commission  on  receipt  of  your 
letter,  and  to  give  it  to  my  principal  clerk,  Ed.  Jones,  wrho  will 
transmit  it. 

I  have  had  nothing  heretofore  to  communicate.  The  banks 
have  been  sounded  on  the  subject  of  loans,  and  have  generally 
answered  favorably.  Information  has  been  collected  and  the 
opinion  of  the  presidents  of  insurance  companies  confidentially 
taken  respecting  our  trade  beyond  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  The 
amount  now  out  in  that  quarter  is  estimated  at  15  or  20  millions, 
of  which  at  least  three-fifths  are  not  expected  till  March  next. 
It  is  agreed  that  no  information  can  be  given  to  the  Calcutta 
vessels  without  creating  an  alarm  which  w^ould  increase  the 
danger;  and  that  the  proper  place  to  meet  the  Batavia  and 
Canton  vessels  is  Anger  Point,  in  the  Straits  of  Sunda,  as  there 
is  not  time  to  go  to  Canton.  I  have  transmitted  the  whole  to 
Mr.  Smith,  in  order  that  he  may  give  the  proper  instructions  to 
the  public  vessel  to  be  despatched.  There  is  such  variety  of 
opinions  here  on  the  subject  of  fortifications,  and  those  so  much 
influenced  by  Federalism  and  local  politics,  that  it  is  difficult  to 
unite  even  our  friends  in  favor  of  one  rational  plan.  I  think, 
however,  that  I  have  succeeded  in  defeating  the  extravagant  and 
inefficient  plan  of  defending  the  Narrows  which  the  corporation 
(this  year  Federal)  intended  to  promote,  either  on  their  own 
bottom  or  probably  in  order  to  raise  a  clamor  against  govern 
ment.  Colonel  Williams  was  unfortunately  drawn  in  to  favor 
the  plan,  for  which  engineers,  fond  of  displaying  their  talents, 
have  some  predilections.  I  will  also,  I  hope,  be  able  to  collect 
such  correct  information  respecting  the  channels  and  soundings 
as  may  enable  us  to  judge  whether  anything  rational  is  practica 
ble,  and  I  doubt  not  the  ultimate  concurrence  of  all  our  friends 
here  in  what  you  may,  in  case  of  an  additional  appropriation, 
decide  upon,  [the  banks?]  agreeing  to  lend  the  money,  if  wanted, 
so  [as  not]  to  interfere  with  our  general  arrangements. 

Should  any  information  reach  you  tending  to  alter  or  confirm 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  355 

our  opinions  of  the  result  of  our  demands  for  reparation,  I  will 
thank  you  to  communicate  it  early,  as  it  may  affect  the  Treasury 
operations,  particularly  in  relation  to  the  purchases  of  public 
debt. 

Respectfully,   and   with   sincere   attachment,   your   obedient 
servant. 


MADISON   TO   GALLATIN. 

ORANGE  COURT-HOUSE,  August  26,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  favor  of  the  15th,  enclosing  a  letter  from 
Captain  Crafts,  came  duly  to  hand.  I  think  it  will  be  proper  to 
have  the  statement  in  the  latter  authenticated,  and  beg  you  to 
have  it  done  should  the  opportunity  offer.  We  ought  to  possess, 
and,  when  proper,  to  exhibit  the  real  facts  of  the  case  at  issue 
with  Great  Britain;  leaving  the  impartial  to  appreciate  the  in 
fluence  on  its  merits,  from  the  circumstance  that  the  seamen 
who  escaped  from  the  Melampus  and  entered  in  the  Chesapeake 
had  been  received  into  the  former  as  deserters,  not  placed  there 
by  impressment. 

I  have  received  not  a  line  since  I  saw  you  from  our  ministers 
at  London,  Paris,  or  Madrid.  The  accounts  from  Norfolk  are 
not  interesting.  From  Richmond  you  hear  all  through  the 
press.  The  country  news  consists  of  the  ravages  made  by  the 
late  deluges  of  rain.  Almost  all  the  mill-dams  have  been  swept 
away,  with  all  the  wheat  and  hay  in  low  situations.  The  loss  of 
wheat  has  been  very  great  on  the  flats  bordering  on  the  large 
streams,  almost  the  entire  harvest  being  at  the  time  in  small 
field-cocks.  Even  in  the  stacks  it  has  suffered  from  the  rain 
driven  into  them ;  whilst  the  field-cocks  on  the  highest  situations 
will  lose  from  that  cause  not  less  than  a  third  on  the  average. 

Yours  very  sincerely. 


356  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1807. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 


YORK,  September  2,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  do  not  know  one  person  in  Connecticut  to 
whom  I  could  apply  for  information  respecting  Jonathan  Bull, 
who  is  recommended  for  the  office  of  commissioner  of  loans. 
But  I  recollect  that  at  an  early  period  of  your  Administration  it 
was  the  wish  of  a  number  of  Republicans  in  that  State  that  he 
should  have  that  office  ;  nor  was  there  any  other  objection  but  a 
disinclination  to  depart  by  a  general  removal  from  the  principles 
of  the  answer  to  the  New  Haven  petition.  I  think  that  he  may  be 
safely  appointed;  I  mentioned  before  that  a  vacancy  prevented 
any  business  being  done  ;  and  if  before  the  meeting  of  Congress 
it  shall  be  discovered  that  the  appointment  was  improper,  you 
may  rectify  the  mistake  in  your  nomination  to  the  Senate. 

Some  months  ago,  the  delinquency  of  -  Cuttler,  collector 
of  Snowhill  (Maryland),  was  officially  stated  to  you,  and  you 
directed  that  he  should  be  removed  as  soon  as  a  proper  suc 
cessor  could  be  found.  Disappointed  in  my  inquiries,  I  requested 
Mr.  Duval  to  write  to  the  most  conspicuous  Republicans  of  the 
county.  The  answer  of  Judge  Polk,  recommending  Josiah  Hub- 
bell,  is  enclosed;  and  Mr.  Duval  assures  that  full  confidence 
may  be  placed  in  it.  Cuttler's  sureties  having  lately  applied  for 
his  removal,  renders  the  speedy  appointment  of  a  successor  neces 
sary.  Should  you  direct  a  commission  to  be  issued,  the  style  of 
office  is  "  Collector  of  the  District  of  Snowhill,  and  Inspector  of 
the  Revenue  for  the  Port  of  Snowhill." 

You  will  have  seen  by  the  papers  of  this  city  the  report  of  the 
corporation  on  the  subject  of  fortifications,  or  rather  obstructions, 
which  is  perfectly  agreeable  to  the  plan  on  which  we  had  con 
versed,  and  is  approved  by  the  Yice-President,  and  by  the  gov 
ernor  of  the  State,  as  well  as  by  General  Wilkinson  and  Captain 
Chauncy.  The  report  has  been  adopted,  and  the  corporation  is 
now  acting  upon  it.  I  believe  the  plan  will  not  be  expensive 
and  will  prove  efficient  ;  and  it  is,  at  all  events,  eligible  that  it 
should  have  originated  with  the  city  council,  specially  considering 
their  politics. 


1807.  LETTERS,    ETC.  357 

Mr.  Robert  Smith  informed  me  that  he  had  declined  sending 
a  vessel  to  give  notice  to  our  China  trade,  principally  for  want 
of  funds.  As  there  was  with  the  insurers  but  one  opinion  on 
the  subject,  and  I  felt  satisfied  that  you  approved  the  plan,  and 
that,  in  case  of  disaster  happening  there  from  want  of  informa 
tion,  much  blame  would,  and  not  altogether  without  foundation, 
attach  to  the  Administration,  I  wrote  to  him  that  I  would,  if  he 
assented,  direct  the  collector  of  Baltimore  to  make  the  necessary 
advances,  relying  on  the  sanction  of  Congress  if  our  existing 
appropriations  were  not  sufficient,  and  leaving  it  to  future  dis 
cussion  whether  the  expense  should  be  charged  to  the  Navy  or 
Diplomatic  Department.  I  was  the  more  decided  in  my  opinion 
from  the  consideration  that  if,  in  this  instance,  we  pleaded  want 
of  funds  as  an  apology  for  having  omitted  any  proper  measure, 
it  would  be  replied  that  Congress  ought  then  to  have  been  called 
at  an  earlier  period. 

I  have  not  yet  received  his  answer. 

With  respect  and  sincere  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

October  17,  1807. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

If  you  could  call  on  me  conveniently  this  forenoon,  Mr. 
Smith  will  meet  you  here  with  an  entire  readiness  to  modify  his 
estimate  to  our  mutual  liking.  I  am  not  familiar  enough  with 
the  subject  to  explain  to  him  the  alteration  desired.  Give  me 
a  few  moments7  notice,  that  I  may  get  him  here.  Affectionate 
salutations. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

October  21,  1807. 


Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  enclose  you  the  form  in  which  I  would  wish  to  place  the 

financial  paragraph,  with  blanks  which  I  must  ask  you  to  fill 


358  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

up ;  also  the  sequel,  which  is  to  conclude  the  message,  for  your 
correction.  And  I  must  ask  the  return  of  the  former  part,  as  it 
is  still  to  be  communicated  to  Mr.  Kodney  for  his  observations, 
and  then  will  be  to  be  modified  and  four  copies  made  according 
to  the  several  amendments  which  will  be  proposed.  The  arrival 
of  the  Constitution  and  Wasp  at  Boston,  where  they  are  awaiting 
orders,  renders  it  necessary  they  should  be  forwarded  to-day; 
and  as  it  is  a  leading  question,  if  you  can  call  here  as  soon  as 
you  arrive  at  your  office  (giving  me  a  few  minutes'  previous 
notice),  I  will  ask  the  attendance  of  the  other  gentlemen  for 
a  few  moments  to  decide  this  single  question. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

21st  October,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  kept  your  message  longer  than  usual,  be 
cause  my  objections  being  less  to  details  than  to  its  general  spirit, 
I  was  at  a  loss  what  alterations  to  submit  to  your  consideration. 

Instead  of  being  written  in  the  style  of  the  proclamation, 
which  has  been  almost  universally  approved  at  home  and 
abroad,  the  message  appears  to  me  to  be  rather  in  the  shape 
of  a  manifesto  issued  against  Great  Britain  on  the  eve  of  a  war, 
than  such  as  the  existing  undecided  state  of  affairs  seems  to  re 
quire.  It  may  either  be  construed  into  a  belief  that  justice  will 
be  denied, — a  result  not  to  be  anticipated  in  an  official  commu 
nication, — or  it  may  be  distorted  into  an  eagerness  of  seeing 
matters  brought  to  issue  by  an  appeal  to  arms.  Although  it  be 
almost  certain  that  the  expected  answer  will  decide  the  question, 
yet  unforeseen  circumstances  may  protract  its  discussion ;  or  the 
British  government  may,  without  acceding  precisely  to  your 
ultimatum,  take  some  new  admissible  ground  which  will  re 
quire  your  sanction  and  delay  the  final  arrangement.  So  long 
as  any  hope,  however  weak,  remains  of  an  honorable  settlement, 
it  is  desirable  that  no  act  of  the  Executive  may,  by  widening  the 
breach,  or  unnecessarily  hurting  the  pride  of  Britain,  have  a 
tendency  to  defeat  it.  Unless,  therefore,  some  useful  and  im- 


1807.  LETTERS,    ETC.  359 

port-ant  object  can  be  obtained  by  the  message  in  its  present 
form,  I  would  wish  its  general  color  and  expression  to  be 
softened ;  nothing  inserted  but  what  is  necessary  for  assisting 
Congress  in  their  first  deliberations,  and  to  account  for  their 
early  meeting;  no  recapitulation  of  former  outrages  further 
than  as  connected  with  the  unratified  treaty ;  no  expression  of 
a  belief  that  war  is  highly  probable,  which  seems  either  to  pre 
suppose  absolute  injustice  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  or  to 
acknowledge  high  pretensions  on  ours.  For,  unless  some  im 
portant  object  be  in  view,  those  may  do  harm,  and  cannot  be 
productive  of  any  substantial  benefit.  If  the  object  be  to  urge 
Congress  to  make  the  necessary  preparations  for  war,  this  may 
be  attained  by  a  direct  and  strong  recommendation,  founded  not 
on  the  probability  but  on  the  uncertainty  of  the  issue.  If  it  be 
to  incite  them  to  a  speedy  declaration  of  war,  this  also  seems 
premature,  and  may  as  effectually  be  done  at  its  proper  time 
when  the  answer  of  the  British  government  will  be  communi 
cated.  It  may  be  added  that  recommendations  or  incitements 
to  war  should  not,  under  our  Constitution,  be  given  by  the 
Executive  without  much  caution ;  and,  above  all,  that  the  pre 
cise  manner  and  time  of  acting  which  Congress  should  adopt 
are  subjects  which  have  not  yet  been  sufficiently  examined. 
That  the  choice  of  the  manner  will  not  probably  be  left  to  us 
is  true.  That  Great  Britain  will  prefer  actual  war  to  any  system 
of  retaliation  short  of  war  which  we  might  select,  I  do  believe.. 
Yet  how  far  it  may  be  proper  to  leave  the  choice  to  her  deserves, 
at  least,  consideration.  Public  opinion  abroad  is  to  us  highly 
valuable ;  at  home  it  is  indispensable.  We  will  be  universally 
justified  in  the  eyes  of  the  world,  and  unanimously  supported 
by  the  nation,  if  the  ground  of  war  be  England's  refusal  to 
disavow  or  to  make  satisfaction  for  the  outrage  on  the  Chesa 
peake.  But  I  am  confident  that  we  will  meet  with  a  most  for 
midable  opposition  should  England  do  that  and  we  should  still 
declare  war  because  she  refuses  to  make  the  proposed  arrange 
ment  respecting  seamen.  It  is  in  that  case  that  measures  short 
of  war  may  become  proper,  leaving  to  England,  if  she  chooses, 
the  odium  of  commencing  an  actual  war.  But  although  that 
policy  may  be  questionable,  and  decisive  measures,  even  under 


360  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1807. 

that  contingency,  be  thought  preferable,  the  question  of  time 
requires  rriost  serious  consideration.  Under  an  impression  that 
this  month  would  decide  the  question  of  war  or  peace,  it  was 
thought  prudent  to  contemplate  (rather  than  to  prepare)  imme 
diate  offensive  operations.  To  strike  a  blow  the  moment  war 
is  begun  is  doubtless  important ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  war 
ought  to  be  commenced  at  this  very  moment.  So  far  as  relates 
to  Canada,  it  may  as  easily,  and,  considering  the  state  of  our 
preparations,  I  might  say  more  easily  be  invaded  and  conquered 
in  winter,  or  even  early  in  the  spring,  than  this  autumn.  Euro 
pean  reinforcements  cannot  in  the  spring  reach  Montreal,  much 
less  Upper  Canada,  before  they  shall  have  been  occupied  by  us. 
Quebec  will  certainly  be  reinforced  before  the  season  shall  per 
mit  regular  approaches.  No  advantage,  therefore,  will  result  in 
that  respect  from  an  immediate  attack ;  no  inconvenience  from 
the  declaration  of  war  being  somewhat  delayed.  In  every  other 
respect  it  is  our  interest  that  actual  war  should  not  be  commenced 
by  England  this  autumn ;  and  as  for  the  same  reason  it  is  her 
interest  to  commence  it  if  she  thinks  it  ultimately  unavoidable, 
I  wish  not  only  that  we  may  not  declare  it  instantaneously,  but 
that  she  and  her  government  and  her  officers  in  America  may, 
until  the  decision  takes  place,  still  consider  the  result  as  uncer 
tain.  The  operations  of  war  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain  will 
consist  in  the  capture  of  our  vessels,  attacks  on  our  most  exposed 
seaports,  and  defence  of  Canada.  On  our  part,  unable  either  to 
protect  our  commerce  or  to  meet  their  fleets,  our  offensive  opera 
tions  must,  by  sea,  be  confined  to  privateers ;  we  must  as  far  as 
practicable  draw  in  those  vessels  we  cannot  defend;  place  our 
ports  in  a  situation  to  repel  mere  naval  aggressions ;  organize 
our  militia  for  occasional  defence;  raise  troops  or  volunteers  for 
permanent  garrisons  or  attack.  Those  essential  preparations  are 
in  some  points  hardly  commenced,  in  every  respect  incomplete ; 
our  China  and  East  India  trade  to  an  immense  amount  yet  out; 
no  men  raised ;  and,  indeed,  nothing  more  was  practicable  beyond 
a  draft  of  militia ;  but  whatever  relates  to  its  better  selection  or 
organization,  or  to  the  raising  of  regulars  or  volunteers,  wanting 
the  authorization  of  Congress,  and  requiring  time  for  executing ; 
the  batteries  contemplated  at  New  York  not  yet  commenced ;  not 


1807.  LETTERS,    ETC. 

even  a  temporary  rampart  in  any  part  of  the  city ; 
cannon  mounted  on  Governor's  Island.  How  far 
the  two  other  seaports,  mentioned  in  the  message  as 
exposed,  have  progressed,  I  do  not  know.  Further  appro] 
tions  stated  to  be  necessary  for  the  contemplated  batteries  of 
every  other  harbor.  It  seems  essentially  necessary  that  we 
should,  if  we  are  permitted,  provide  such  rational  and  prac 
ticable  means  of  defence  as  we  think  may  be  effected  within  a 
short  time,  before  we  precipitate  the  war.  Is  it  not  probable 
that'  England  will,  if  she  presumes  that  her  answer  may  lead  to 
a  war,  immediately  despatch  a  few  ships  with  contingent  orders  ? 
And  if  Congress  were  to  declare  war  in  November,  what  would 
prevent  their  naval  force  here,  even  if  not  reinforced,  to  lay  New 
York  under  contribution  before  winter?  Great  would  be  the 
disgrace  attaching  to  such  a  disaster.  The  Executive  would  be 
particularly  liable  to  censure  for  having  urged  immediate  war 
whilst  so  unprepared  against  attack ;  nor  need  I  say  that  as  a 
prosperous  Administration  is  almost  invulnerable,  adverse  events 
will  invariably  destroy  its  popularity.  Let  it  be  added  that,  in 
dependently  of  immense  loss  to  individuals,  three  millions  at 
least  of  next  year's  revenue  rest  on  bonds  due  by  the  merchants 
of  that  city. 

In  every  view  of  the  subject  I  feel  strongly  impressed  with 
the  propriety  of  preparing  to  the  utmost  for  war,  and  carrying 
it  with  vigor,  if  it  cannot  be  honorably  avoided;  but  in  the 
mean  while  persevering  in  that  caution  of  language  and  action 
which  may  give  us  some  more  time  and  is  best  calculated  to 
preserve  the  remaining  chance  of  peace  and  most  consistent 
with  the  general  system  of  your  Administration.  As  to  any 
particular  alterations  in  that  part  of  the  message,  although  I 
do  not  feel  equal  to  proposing  proper  substitutes,  a  sketch  is 
enclosed,  intended  rather  to  show  those  parts  which  I  think  most 
objectionable,  than  the  best  manner  in  which  they  might  be 
amended. 

ALTERATIONS   PROPOSED. 

First  paragraph. — Strike  out  from  "  and  the  moment"  in  7th 
line  to  the  word  " plaee"  in  the  last  line  of  first  page,  and  insert 
in  substance,  "  The  many  injuries  and  depredations  under  which 


362  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

our  commerce  and  navigation  have  been  affected  on  the  high  seas 
for  years  past;  the  successive  innovations  on  those  rules  of  public 
law  established  by  the  reason  and  usage  of  nations ;  all  the  circum 
stances  which  preceded  the  [induced  an]  extraordinary  mission 
to  England,  are  already  known  to  you." 

I  will  observe  on  this  part  of  the  message  that  Piercers  murder 
was  in  no  ways  the  cause  of  the  extraordinary  mission.  Mr. 
Pinkney's  nomination  took  place  whilst  Congress  was  in  session ; 
Pierce  was  killed  immediately  after  the  adjournment.  Nay, 
King's  conduct  on  that  occasion  has  by  some  been  ascribed  to  his 
disappointment  at  Pinkney's  being  selected  instead  of  himself. 

The  next  sentence,  ending  at  the  word  inadmissible,  in  6th  line 
of  second  page,  and  which  gives  the  history  of  the  negotiation, 
does  not  seem  full  enough.  I  would  introduce  the  idea  that  the 
efforts  of  our  ministers  were  applied  to  the  framing  of  an  arrange 
ment  which  might  embrace  and  settle  all  the  points  in  dispute, 
and  also  provide  for  a  commercial  intercourse  on  conditions  of 
some  equality.  I  would  also  modify  the  declaration  of  the 
inadmissibility  of  the  instrument  by  saying  that,  although  it 
had  provided  in  a  manner  if  not  altogether  satisfactory  yet 
admissible  for  some  of  the  points  in  dispute,  it  had  left  one 
most  likely  to  perpetuate  collisions  altogether  unprovided  for, 
and  that  in  other  respects  it  was  inadmissible.  Such  modifica 
tion  is  recommended  by  a  desire  not  to  appear  to  abandon  the 
arrangement  respecting  the  colonial  trade,  or  that  of  equalization 
of  duties,  and  also  with  a  view  to  the  opposition  party  in  Eng 
land,  on  which  it  is  not  our  interest  to  bear  too  hard,  lest  they 
should  also  unite  against  us. 

Same  paragraph. — Instead  of  the  sentences,  "  On  this  outrage, 
&G.J  and  its  character  has  been,  &c."  I  would  prefer  saying  simply, 
"  On  this  outrage  no  commentaries  are  necessary." 

Second  paragraph. — I  would  rather  omit  altogether  this  para 
graph.  The  continuation  of  aggression,  being  the  act  of  the  same 
officers,  may  fairly  be  considered  as  part  of  the  same  act ;  nor  do 
I  think  a  recommendation  to  exclude  ships  of  war  from  our  ports 
opportunely  introduced,  at  a  moment  when  the  question  is  war  or 
peace.  But  if  the  paragraph  be  preserved,  I  would  omit  what 
relates  to  demands  of  additional  reparation,  which  more  than  any 


1807.  LETTEKS,     ETC.  363 

other  part  of  the  message  seems  to  indicate  a  determination  not 
to  arrange  amicably  the  disputes  with  Great  Britain. 

Third  paragraph. — I  would  also  rather  omit,  under  existing 
circumstances,  this  paragraph.  If  preserved,  I  would  strike  out 
from  the  commencement  to  overlooked,  in  the  4th  line  of  the 
paragraph,  and  insert,  "Another  new  violation  of  maritime  rights 
of  great  magnitude  has  in  the  mean  while  taken  place.  The  govern 
ment  of  that  nation,  &c."  And  to  the  end  of  the  paragraph  I 
would  add  that  that  order  was  predicated  on  a  supposed  construc 
tion  of  Bonaparte's  decree,  Avhich  had  been  disavowed  and  not 
acted  upon  by  the  French  government.  If  that  be  not  inserted 
here,  it  should,  I  think,  be  alluded  to  in  the  fifth  paragraph,  and  a 
copy  of  the  decree  and  explanations  be  sent,  stating  that  although 
some  expressions  in  the  decree  had  at  first  caused  alarm,  yet  as 
its  operation,  both  by  their  declarations  and  practice,  was  confined 
to  ports  Avithin  their  own  jurisdiction,  and  neither  affected  mari 
time  rights  nor  contravened  our  treaty,  it  could  not,  though  in  its 
effects  curtailing  our  commerce,  be  complained  of  as  hostile. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  9th  and  10th  and  particularly  the 
llth  and  12th  paragraphs  should  immediately  follow  the  3d,  or 
perhaps  the  1st.  The  two  last,  11  and  12,  relate  to  the  measures 
adopted  by  the  Executive  in  consequence  of  the  outrage  on  the 
Chesapeake.  That,  however,  is  only  a  question  of  arrangement. 

Fourth  paragraph. — The  expression,  "  may  without  further 
delay  be  expected  to  be  brought  to  an  issue  of  some  sort,"  seems 
to  go  farther  than  Mr.  Armstrong's  communications  justify.  I 
would  rather  say,  "  and  an  expectation  is  entertained  that  they  may 
soon  be  brought,  &c." 

Same  paragraph. — I  would  strike  out  the  last  words,  "  during 
the  short  period  now  to  intervene  before  an  answer  which  shall 
decide  our  course"  and  simply  say  that  "no  new  collisions,  &c., 
had  taken  place,  or  seem  at  present  to  be  apprehended. " 

Ninth  paragraph. — I  perceive  by  General  Dearborn's  state 
ment  that  appropriations  are  wanted  not  only  for  other  ports,  but 
also,  to  a  considerable  amount,  for  New  York,  Charleston,  and 
New  Orleans.  The  idea  should  therefore  be  introduced ;  and  I 
would  add  something  stronger  in  the  shape  of  recommendation 
for  that  object  generally. 


364  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1807. 

Eleventh  paragraph. — Quere,  whether  the  contracts  entered 
into  by  the  Navy  Department  do  not  embrace  other  objects  than 
those  here  stated  ?  and  also  whether  a  greater  expense  than  was 
appropriated  has  not  been  incurred  for  men  on  the  Mississippi 
and  elsewhere?  At  least,  Mr.  Smith  states  that  he  has  no  money 
to  pay  off  the  Constitution ;  and  he  ought  to  have  enough  to  pay 
the  whole  navy  to  the  end  of  the  year. 

Twelfth  paragraph. — I  think  that  there  should  be  here  some 
additional  recommendation  generally  to  provide  for  the  worst, — 
in  case  of  unfavorable  issue, — particularly  to  hint  at  the  necessity 
of  better  organization  of  militia,  volunteers,  &c. 

Thirteenth  paragraph. — I  regret  that  part  of  what  [was]  first 
intended,  particularly  as  to  the  effect  of  late  decision  on  the  trial 
by  jury,  has  been  suppressed.  But  quere,  how  far  it  may  be 
proper  to  go  whilst  Marshall's  decision  on  the  pending  motion  is 
not  known? 

I  think  that  the  fourteenth  or  financial  paragraph  should  pre 
cede  this. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  21st  October,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  received  this  moment,  at  my  house,  your  note 
of  this  morning.  The  perpetual  interruptions  of  the  office  and 
my  want  of  eyes  at  night  induce  me  to  remain  here  to-day  for 
the  purpose  of  finishing  my  remarks  on  your  message.  They  are 
just  done,  and  I  send  them  with  this.  I  regret  that  my  not  being 
at  the  office  should  have  disappointed  you.  May  not  the  orders 
for  the  Constitution  be  delayed  till  to-morrow?  My  impression, 
however,  is  that  she  should  be  disarmed,  but  not  sent  round  to 
the  Chesapeake.  Her  best  station  would,  I  think,  for  many 
reasons,  be  New  York.  But  I  have  not  heard  any  reasons  for  or 
against  her  staying  or  going  anywhere.  Mr.  Smith  says  that  he 
has  no  money  to  pay  her,  and  wants  me  to  induce  the  bank  to 
advance  the  money. 

This,  for  many  reasons,  and,  amongst  others,  on  account  of  the 
immediate  meeting  of  Congress,  appears  inadmissible. 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  365 

I  will  try  to  return  the  financial  and  last  paragraphs  this 
evening. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  21st  October,  1807. 

DEAR  Sm, — I  return  the  financial  paragraph  and  conclusion 
of  the  message.  The  blanks  I  will  supply  on  Monday  morning; 
but  as  it  will  be  only  an  approximation,  the  paragraph  should 
state  that  all  the  accounts  not  being  yet  received,  a  correct  state 
ment  will  be  transmitted  by  the  Treasury ;  but  that  in  the  mean 
while  it  is  ascertained  that  the  receipts  have  exceeded mil 
lions,  which,  &c.,  have  enabled  us  to  pay  about millions 

of  the  principal,  omitting  altogether  mention  of  interest,  unless 
by  introducing  after  current  demands  the  words,  "  including  the 
annual  interest  on  the  debt,"  in  8th  line.  I  do  not  remember 
whether,  in  previous  messages,  funded  debt  has  been  the  expres 
sion.  There  also,  after  debt,  should  be  introduced  nearly  or  more 
than,  according  to  the  result  which  I  will  furnish.  The  remainder 
of  the  message  is,  in  my  opinion,  unexceptionable ;  indeed,  it  is 
precisely  in  that  spirit  which  I  have  taken  the  liberty  to  advise. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

Saturday,  October  24,  1807. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  am  closely  confined  by  the  run  of  visits  from  the  members ; 
can  you  therefore  do  me  the  favor  to  call  on  me  this  forenoon, 
to  consult  about  the  estimate  you  enclosed  me  yesterday,  which 
gives  me  much  uneasiness  ? 


366  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 

JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

November  4,  1807. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

As  it  will  be  necessary  to  decide  how  this  question  of  the 
Batture  is  to  be  settled,  we  must  of  course  take  the  trouble  of 
understanding  it.  I  therefore  send  you  a  very  able  opinion  of 
Derbigny's,  to  be  returned,  when  read,  to  Mr.  Rodney.  Happen 
ing  to  have  the  Encyclopaedia  which  he  quotes,  I  have  turned  to 
it,  and  find  it  able  and  satisfactory.  Mr.  Rodney  is  in  posses 
sion  of  the  opinion  of  the  court  assigning  their  reasons. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

November  5,  1807. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  return  you  the  report  with  great  approbation.1  One  or  two 
verbal  changes,  and,  in  one  place,  the  striking  out  two  or  three 
lines,  not  affecting  the  sense,  are  all  I  have  to  suggest.  The  erasure 
is  to  avoid  the  producing  an  odious  idea,  which  a  few  days  now 
may  show  to  be  unnecessary,  and  which,  even  if  war  takes  place, 
may  not  be  necessary.  In  the  mean  time  the  Federalists  would 
have  the  benefit  of  a  triumph,  proclaiming  that  we  contemplate 
to  do  ourselves  exactly  what  they  did  and  we  then  so  much  op 
posed.  The  report  stands  certainly  as  well  without  the  passage. 


JEFFERSON    TO    GALLATIN. 

November  25,  1807. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

It  seems,  I  think,  that  a  pardon  may  be  justly  expected  in  the 
enclosed  case.     But  the  practice  we  have  followed  is  a  sound 

1  The  Keport  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  Congress,  dated  5  Nov., 
1807.     See  State  Papers. 


1807.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  367 

one, — to  let  the  matter  go  to  a  jury,  that  facts  may  be  proved 
and  disclosed;  and  after  that  only,  to  determine  the  question 
of  pardon.  The  practice  of  nolle  prosequi  is  to  be  avoided  but  in 
extraordinary  cases.  I  once  agreed  to  one  in  a  case  of  man 
slaughter  by  surprise,  and  of  which  I  have  repented  ever  since. 
I  will  thank  you  for  your  opinion  on  this  matter.  Affectionate 
salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  2d  December,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR, — Supposing  that  the  power  to  lay  embargoes  should 
be  considered  as  improper  to  be  vested  in  the  President  during 
the  session  of  Congress,  how  would  this  plan  answer  ? 

To  repeal  the  present  Non-Importation  Act,  and  in  lieu  thereof 
to  pass  a  general  non-importation  Act  (from  Great  Britain),  to 
take  place,  say  on  1st  February  next.  This  is  thrown  out  for 
consideration,  and  may  be  liable  to  other  objections,  but  might 
pass  the  House  with  more  facility  than  the  other  plan. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

December  3,  1807. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

Your  proposition  of  yesterday  has  some  good  phases  and  merits 
consideration.  I  have  only  seen  Mr.  Madison  as  yet,  who  ob 
jects  to  it.  Another  proposition  which  may  be  considered  is  the 
continuing  the  suspension  of  the  present  law,  by  an  Act  of  Con 
gress,  till  the  last  day  of  the  session.  Affectionate  salutations. 

What  is  good  in  this  case  cannot  be  effected ;  we  have,  therefore, 
only  to  find  out  what  will  be  least  bad. 


368  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1807. 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  18th  December,  1807. 

DEAR  SIR, — Reflecting  on  the  proposed  embargo  and  all  its 
bearings,  I  think  it  essential  that  foreign  vessels  may  be  excepted, 
so  far  at  least  as  to  be  permitted  to  depart  in  ballast,  or  with  such 
cargoes  as  they  may  have  on  board  at  this  moment.  They  are 
so  few  as  to  be  no  object  to  us ;  and  wre  may  thereby  prevent  a 
similar  detention  of  our  vessels  abroad,  or  at  least  a  pretence  for 
it.  Such  a  seizure  of  our  property  and  seamen  in  foreign  ports 
would  be  far  greater  than  any  possible  loss  at  sea  for  six  months 
to  come.  I  wish  to  know  the  name  of  the  member  to  whom  Mr. 
Rodney  sent  the  sketch  of  a  resolution,  in  order  to  mention  the 
subject  to  him,  and  also,  if  you  approve,  that  you  would  suggest 
it  to  such  as  you  may  see.  I  also  think  that  an  embargo  for  a 
limited  time  will  at  this  moment  be  preferable  in  itself,  and  less 
objectionable  in  Congress.  In  every  point  of  view,  privations, 
sufferings,  revenue,  effect  on  the  enemy,  politics  at  home,  &c.,  I 
prefer  war  to  a  permanent  embargo. 

Governmental  prohibitions  do  always  more  mischief  than  had 
been  calculated;  and  it  is  not  without  much  hesitation  that  a 
statesman  should  hazard  to  regulate  the  concerns  of  individuals 
as  if  he  could  do  it  better  than  themselves. 

The  measure  being  of  a  doubtful  policy,  and  hastily  adopted 
on  the  first  view  of  our  foreign  intelligence,  I  think  that  wre  had 
better  recommend  it  with  modifications,  and,  at  first,  for  such  a 
limited  time  as  will  afford  us  all  time  for  reconsideration  and,  if 
we  think  proper,  for  an  alteration  in  our  course  without  appear 
ing  to  retract.  As  to  the  hope  that  it  may  have  an  effect  on  the 
negotiation  with  Mr.  Rose,  or  induce  England  to  treat  us  better, 
I  think  it  entirely  groundless. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  369 

JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

December  18,  1807. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

Monroe  will  be  here  on  Sunday ;  he  will  bring  us  no  new  in 
formation,  as  far  as  can  be  judged  from  his  letter;  but  on  the 
subject  of  the  proclamation,  should  the  message  wait  for  him? 
I  will  keep  it  back  till  half  after  ten  o'clock  for  your  opinion, 
either  written  or  verbal.  Affectionate  salutations. 

I  have  just  received  your  note,  and  am  clearly  for  the  excep 
tion  ;  but  come  here  before  half  after  ten,  and  let  us  be  together 
before  the  message  goes  out  of  our  hands. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

January  14,  1808. 

Th.  Jefferson  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  return  you  Towers's  application,  and  send  you  a  similar  one 
from  a  Mr.  Stewart.  The  idea  of  our  having  a  power  to  give 
special  permits  getting  abroad  will  overwhelm  us  with  applica 
tions.  Would  it  not  be  better  to  give  notice  in  the  papers  that 
the  exception  in  the  law  as  to  vessels  under  the  direction  of  the 
President  is  considered  as  going  to  such  vessels  only  as  are  neces 
sary  for  the  correspondence  of  the  government  with  its  agents 
abroad,  or  with  foreign  nations  ?  Foronda  is  about  sending  a 
vessel  to  the  Havana,  Vera  Cruz,  &c.  We  have  not  decided 
on  sending  packets  to  that  place,  but,  as  a  meeting  will  be  neces 
sary  in  two  or  three  days  on  the  surplus  of  seamen  now  in  actual 
service,  we  will  then  consider  that  of  packets  generally.  Affec 
tionate  salutations. 

VOL.  i. — 25 


370  WEITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  12th  February,  1808. 
DEAR  SIR, — The  President  was  authorized  to  cause  to  be  opened 
a  road  or  roads  through  the  territory  lately  ceded  by  the  Indians  to 
the  United  States  from  the  rivet*  Mississippi  to  the  Ohio,  and  to  the 
former  Indian  boundary-line  established  by  the  Treaty  of  Greenville, 
by  the  7th  Section  of  an  Act  entitled  "  An  Act  to  regulate  and  fix 
the  compensation  of  clerks  and  to  authorize  the  laying  out  certain 
public  roads,  and  for  other  purposes,"  passed  21st  April,  1806, 
Sec.  8th,  vol.  of  Laws,  page  129.  Under  that  authority  two 
roads  have  been  laid  out,  one  from  St.  Louis,  or  rather  Kas- 
kaskia,  through  Yincennes  to  the  Indian  line  in  the  direction 
of  Cincinnati,  and  the  other  from  Vincennes  to  the  falls  of  the 
Ohio.  I  have  not  received  official  information  that  contracts 
had  yet  been  made  for  the  opening  of  either.  They  are  only 
surveyed  and  laid  out.  As  you  are  reporting  on  the  Cumberland 
Road,  and  the  commissioners  have  not  extended  yet  the  location 
of  the  road  more  than  7  or  8  miles  beyond  Brownsville,  would  it 
not  be  best  to  report  that  you  have  confirmed  only  so  much  of 
the  road  as  extends  from  Cumberland  to  Brownsville,  and  made 
contracts  for  opening  the  same  ?  The  idea  is  suggested  because 
by  the  terms  of  the  Act  it  seems  premature  for  the  President  to 
confirm  any  part  of  the  road  the  location  of  which  is  not  com 
pleted;  because  the  ferment  excited  in  the  Pennsylvania  Legis 
lature  on  that  particular  portion  of  the  road  would  be  allayed 
by  seeing  that  the  President  wishes  the  ground  recommended  by 
the  Legislature  to  be  fully  examined  before  he  forms  a  conclu 
sive  opinion ;  and  because,  as  it  relates  to  the  general  course  of 
the  road  and  of  its  extension  towards  St.  Louis,  I  really  believe 
that  striking  Charleston  instead  of  Wheeling,  though  farther 
north  than  is  desirable,  would  not  lengthen  the  wrhole  distance 
more  than  one  or  two  miles.  Considering  the  completion  of 
that  road  across  our  mountains  in  the  manner  contemplated  as 
a  national  object  of  great  importance  (particularly  as  a  bond  of 
union),  I  think  it  more  useful  to  remove  local  and  State  opposition 
than  to  adhere  too  strictly  to  first,  though  correct,  impressions. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  371 

JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

February  13,  1808. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  send  you  Mr.  Brown's  papers  respecting  the  public  property 
in  New  Orleans.  I  see  nothing  in  them  which  is  proper  to  lay 
before  Congress  until  the  commissioners  shall  have  decided  in 
whom  the  property  is.  When  we  shall  have  a  list  of  what  is 
really  ours,  Congress  may  be  applied  to  to  say  what  shall  be 
done  with  it.  After  giving  to  the  city  what  may  be  proper,  and 
appropriating  to  their  proper  uses  the  buildings,  &c.,  Ave  should 
wish  to  occupy,  I  should  think  it  best  to  lease  the  residue  on 
ground-rents,  which  may  keep  our  buildings,  levees,  &c.,  in  per 
petual  repair.  The  ground-rents  to  be  one-twentieth  or  ^V  of 
the  value ;  to  be  revalued  every  twenty  years.  Have  you  Gov 
ernor  Claiborne's  statement  of  this  property,  which  I  enclosed  to 
Mr.  Madison  for  circulation  ?  I  suppose  we  need  not  move  in 
the  Batture  until  the  agent  comes  on.  Affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

[18th  February,  1808.] 

General  Dearborn's  plan  for  raising  6000  regulars  and  24,000; 
minute-men  or  volunteers  is  submitted  to  the  heads  of  Depart 
ments  with  a  request  of  their  opinions  for  or  against  it,  and  of 
any  alterations  they  might  suppose  advantageous,  and  with  as 
little  delay  as  possible,  because  the  House  were  to  take  up  this- 
day  the  bill  into  which  this  is  to  be  ingrafted. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON, 


February  18,  1808: 

I  think  the  number  of  men  proposed  sufficient  for  the  present,, 
it  being  understood  that  before  Congress  adjourns  the  propriety 
of  a  greater  increase  may  be  considered. 


372  WRITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1808. 

Of  the  organization  and  details  I  am  not  a  judge;    but  I 
would  suggest : 

1.  That  if  we  have  only  brigadiers,  and  any  body  of  regulars 
be  called  into  service  with  militia,  the  command  will  devolve  on 
any  militia  major-general  whom  the  State  executive  may  select. 

2.  That  in  relation  to  minute-men,  it  would  be  eligible,  if 
otherwise  practicable,  that  their  services  might  be  commanded 
not  only  for  an  adjoining  State  or  Territory,  but  also  for  an 
adjoining  colony  or  province  belonging  to  a  foreign  power. 

As  early  an  estimate  of  the  expense  (annual,  and  specially  for 
this  year,  taking  in  the  gradual  recruiting)  as  possible  is  desirable. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  27th  February,  1808. 
DEAR  SIR, — It  seems  that  fourteen  American  vessels,  which 
had  entered  last  summer  in  Amsterdam  as  coming  from  America, 
and  with  cargoes  not  of  British  growth,  have  been  detained  under 
suspicion  of  having  in  fact  come  from  England  with  English 
cargoes.  The  clearances  have  been  sent  to  Heinicken,  the  Dutch 
consul,  in  order  to  ascertain  the  fact.  Four  of  the  vessels  having 
thus  entered  as  if  coming  from  New  York,  and  with  clearances 
apparently  signed  by  the  officers  of  that  port,  Heinicken  writes 
to  Mr.  Gelston  asking  for  the  information  and  enclosing  copies  of 
the  clearances.  These  are  evidently  forgeries  intended  to  evade 
the  French  and  Dutch  regulations.  For  of  the  four  vessels 
which  had  entered  with  such  supposed  New  York  papers,  three 
had  never  been  in  that  port,  and  the  fourth,  instead  of  clearing 
for  Amsterdam  with  a  cargo  of  sugar,  as  stated  in  the  forged 
paper,  had  actually  cleared  for  Liverpool  with  cotton,  flour, 
and  lumber.  It  is  therefore  clear  that  she  landed  her  cargo  in 
Liverpool,  took  there  a  cargo  of  sugar,  and,  having  forged  a  new 
clearance  and  a  set  of  other  documents  in  order  to  show  that 
the  sugar  was  not  British,  proceeded  to  Amsterdam,  where  she 
is  detained.  I  had  before  heard  some  vague  reports  of  those 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  373 

transactions,  and  also  a  suggestion  that  the  harsh  interpretation 
put  by  Bonaparte,  on  his  return  from  Poland,  on  his  decree  of 
November,  1806,  was  owing  to  his  being  made  acquainted  with 
the  fraud.  It  is  very  possible  that  the  three  vessels  may  have 
been  indeed  British  vessels  sailing  under  American  flags;  for,  as 
they  had  never  been  in  New  York,  they  must  have  forged  not 
only  the  clearances,  but  also  the  sea-letters  and  other  documents. 

Mr.  Gelston  now  inquires  whether  he  shall  give  to  Heinicken 
the  information  required.  It  will  certainly  seal  the  condemnation 
of  the  vessels ;  and  he  doubts  whether  we  are  bound  to  assist  in 
carrying  the  French  and  Holland  decrees  into  effect.  The  paper 
A  is  the  copy  of  the  true  clearance  under  which  the  Jane  sailed 
from  New  York,  and  is  sent  to  me  by  Mr.  Gelston.  The  paper 
B  4  is  a  copy  of  the  forged  clearance  under  which  she  entered 
Amsterdam,  and  the  papers  B  5,  6,  and  7  are  copies  of  the  three 
other  forged  documents,  intended  to  show  that  the  sugar  she  had 
taken  on  board  at  Liverpool  had  been  imported  into  the  United 
States  from  French,  Spanish,  and  Danish  ports.  Those  four 
papers,  B  4,  5,  6,  7,  were  enclosed  to  Mr.  Gelston  by  Heinicken. 
The  forged  clearances  and  documents  of  the  three  other  vessels, 
being  similar  to  that  of  the  Jane,  have  not  been  sent  by  Mr. 
Gelston. 

There  being  fourteen  vessels  in  that  situation,  and  Heinicken 
having  sent  to  Mr.  Gelston  the  papers  of  four  only,  I  presume 
that  the  other  ten  had  entered  Amsterdam  as  coming  from  other 
American  ports,  and  that  Heinicken  has  made  a  similar  applica 
tion  to  the  collectors  of  those  ports  respectively  from  which  they 
pretended  to  have  cleared.  The  question  is  respectfully  submitted 
for  your  consideration. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  February  29,  1808. 
DEAE  SIR, — I  have  given  the  directions  to  Mr.  Gelston  on 
the  subject  of  the  fraudulent  papers  used  at  Amsterdam.     But 


374  WHITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

I  do  not  think  that  at  this  moment  anything  more,  either  by  way 
of  publication  or  message,  would  be  expedient.  Brown,  the  New 
Orleans  collector,  writes  that  he  had  cleared  42  vessels  since  the 
embargo  was  known,  because  he  had  no  copy  of  the  law.  A 
packet  from  New  York  had  brought  the  intelligence,  and  the 
latest  letters  received  from  Washington  were  of  the  14th  Decem 
ber.  The  embargo  passed  22d  December,  and  he  writes  on  28th 
January.  I  have  written  to  him  that  the  general  knowledge  of 
an  embargo  was  sufficient  to  have  made  it  his  duty  at  least 
to  refuse  clearances;  and  that  he  must  enforce  the  penalties 
against  the  owners  of  every  vessel  that  sailed  with  knowledge 
of  the  first  law.  I  presume  that  some  flour  was  thus  exported 
to  Havana;  but  principally  cotton  to  Liverpool.  I  think, 
however,  that  in  his  42  vessels  he  includes  coasting  vessels.  It 
appears  from  the  enclosed  paper,  under  the  head  Communication, 
that  we  have  no  district  attorney  in  East  Tennessee.  I  cannot 
obtain  a  copy  of  the  supplementary  Non-Importation  Act.  They 
say  that  they  (in  the  office  of  the  Secretary  of  State)  have  not 
got  it. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  2d  March,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  think  that  Congress  might  now  decide  whether 
they  will  give  to  the  corporation  the  right  of  the  United  States, 
1st,  to  the  Batture;  2d,  to  the  fortifications  and  ground  contained 
between  them  and  the  houses ;  3d,  to  the  levy  and  ground  contained 
between  it  and  the  houses.  If  they  give  the  Batture,  it  may  be 
done  without  any  restrictions;  but  if  they  give  either  of  the  other 
portions  of  ground,  which  are  extremely  valuable,  it  must  be 
under  conditions,  1st,  that  the  custom-house  lot  shall  be  reserved 
for  the  United  States ;  2d,  that  no  other  buildings  shall  be  erected 
in  front  of  the  city;  3d,  perhaps  that  the  President  should 
reserve  what  may  be  necessary  for  public  use.  Congress  may 
also  authorize  the  President  to  sell  such  lots,  not  disputed,  as  he 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  375 

may  think  proper.  But  would  it  not  be  best  to  confine  ourselves 
for  the  present  to  the  Batture,  and  to  wait  for  the  report  of  the 
commissioners?  I  have  received  a  duplicate  of  all  the  papers 
which  you  sent  this  morning,  the  petition  respecting  the  marine 
hospital  excepted. 

If  you  do  not  choose  to  send  a  special  message,  I  may  send  the 
papers  (excepting  the  petitions  to  yourself)  to  the  land  committee, 
of  which  Boyle  is  chairman;  and  they  may  act  as  they  think 
proper. 

I  do  not  like  much  the  idea  of  creating  a  special  court  for 
deciding  the  question  of  the  Batture.  If  we  give  our  right  to 
the  corporation,  they  may  afterwards  fight  it  with  the  courts  as 
they  please. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIX  TO  JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  10th  March,  1808. 

DEAK  SIK, — An  Act  to  extend  the  terms  of  credit  on  certain 
revenue  bonds,  which  passed  both  Houses  nine  days  ago,  should 
be  sent  immediately  to  the  collectors.  But  on  application  to  the 
office  of  Secretary  of  State,  it  was  answered  that  it  had  not  yet 
been  deposited  there.  I  wish  also  to  have  the  new  supplement 
ary  Embargo  Act  as  soon  as  it  is  signed.  It  would  save  time  if 
it  was  sent  to  me  to  be  transcribed  for  the  printer  before  it  is 
deposited  in  the  State  Department. 

On  reading  Baldwin's  letter  respecting  the  supposed  move 
ments  of  Burr,  it  strikes  me  that  the  first  step  should  be  to 
inquire  at  Amboy  respecting  Arnauts  generally,  the  vessel  said 
to  be  commanded  by  one  of  them,  in  which  B.  is  said  to  have 
sailed,  or  any  other  vessel  which  may  have  sailed  for  Orleans 
since  the  1st  of  January.  (The  Orleans  files  of  papers  to  be 
also  examined,  to  see  the  arrival  of  any  vessel  commanded  by 
Arnaut.)  We  have  there  a  collector,  named  Manning,  the  only 
Republican  of  note  in  the  vicinity.  I  presume  from  his  recom 
mendations  that  he  may  be  trusted  as  far  as  relates  to  general  or 
official  inquiries. 


376  WRITINGS    OF     GAL  LATIN.  1808. 

If  anything  further  be  wanted,  particularly  if  it  shall  be 
found  that  John  B.  Arnaut  has  a  house  there,  a  special  agent 
may  be  sent.  If  they  can  be  legally  obtained  from  their  chim 
ney  recess,  it  would  be  important  to  get  the  papers.  The  next 
step  would  be  to  communicate  to  Claiborne,  and  perhaps  to  our 
register,  Thompson,  who  is  the  colonel  of  militia  in  Opelousas. 
But  the  mail  is  very  slow  and  not  very  safe.  I  presume  that  a 
writ  may  be  obtained  from  Ohio  grounded  on  the  indictment,  by 
which  Burr  may  be  arrested  anywhere  and  brought  back  to 

trial. 

Eespectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

March  11,  1808. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

The  Act  concerning  revenue  bonds  was  presented  to  me  the 
night  before  last,  signed  yesterday,  and  will  be  deposited  to-day. 
After  an  Act  is  passed,  the  clerk  enrolls,  and  the  committee  ex 
amine  and  report  it  at  their  leisure.  They  then  keep  them  till 
they  have  others,  so  as  to  make  one  job  only  of  the  presenting 
them  to  me.  Those  delays  occasion  often  a  considerable  interval 
between  the  passage  of  a  law  and  the  depositing  it  in  the  Secre 
tary  of  State's  office.  The  amendatory  embargo  law  is  not  come 
to  me.  I  propose  a  consultation  whether  we  should  not  give 
notice  to  the  merchants  that  on  a  certain  day  they  may  despatch 
a  vessel  in  ballast  to  La  Vera  Cruz,  another  to  Laguayra,  &c.,  to 
bring  home  their  property,  and  that  no  other  will  ever  be  per 
mitted  afterwards.  Whether  we  might  send  a  sloop  of  war  to 
bring  their  cash  may  be  a  question.  Affectionate  salutations. 


1808.  LETTEES,    ETC.  377 

JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

March  11,  1808. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  have  this  moment  received  the  embargo  law,  but  I  do  not 
sign  it  till  I  have  returned  it  to  the  committee  to  correct  three 
errors  of  enrolment,  one  of  which  is  material.  This  I  can  put 
off  to  to-morrow  morning.  In  the  mean  time  you  can  have  it 
copied  as  if  signed  and  dated  to-morrow,  March  12;  only  be 
so  good  as  to  let  me  have  it  again  this  evening  or  to-morrow 
morning. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

March  13,  1808. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

There  have  been  several  appointments  of  marshal  to  North 
Carolina,  all  of  whom  have  refused  to  accept.  West  has  acted 
till  lately,  merely  to  give  us  time  to  procure  one,  and  he  has 
recommended  a  man  about  whom  Mr.  Macon  and  Turner  have 
written  and  will  get  an  answer  in  a  fortnight.  In  the  mean 
time  an  addition  of  400  D.  to  their  emoluments  may  induce 
acceptance.  Peppin's  application  appears  unauthorized,  but  may 
he  not  go  in  some  of  the  vessels  going  for  property  to  some  other 
port  ?  I  received  many  petitions  yesterday,  all  proposing  to  send 
their  own  vessels.  I  imagine  they  will  come  in  bales  every  day. 
I  understand  there  is  scarcely  a  merchant  in  the  United  States 
who  has  not  property  somewhere  beyond  sea.  We  must  have  a 
consultation  soon  on  this  subject,  and  another  very  important 
one.  Affectionate  salutations. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 


TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  March  16,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  7th  Section  of  the  Embargo  Act  seems  to 
require  the  adoption  of  some  general  rule  for  its  execution. 


378  "WRITINGS    OF     GAL  LATIN.  1808. 

The  President  is  authorized  to  grant  permission,  &c.,  if  he 
shall  be  satisfied  by  the  proofs  exhibited  that  the  parties  had 
property  of  value  in  any  port,  &c. 

Three  questions  arise  on  that  section : 

1.  Are  the  words  is  authorized  imperative?  or  do  they  leave 
a  discretion  even  in  those  cases  where  the  President  is  satisfied 
that  the  parties  had  property  abroad?     If  the  words  be  im 
perative,  the  President  has  no  discretion  in  that  respect,  and 
must  grant  permission,  provided  he  is  satisfied  of  the  other  fact. 
If  they  are  not  imperative,  and  leave  a  discretion,  what  princi 
ples  shall  be  adopted  in  refusing  or  granting  permission? 

I  incline  to  the  opinion  that  the  words  are  imperative. 

2.  What  proofs  shall  satisfy  the  President  that  the  property 
is  abroad  as  stated?     The  words  are:    "statement  or  account 
current  on  oath,  or  such  other  proof  as  the  nature  of  the  case 
will  admit  or  the  President  may  require."     From  those  ex 
pressions  it  seems  that  the  President  has  full  power  to  decide 
on  the  species  of  proof.     Can  any  general  rule  be  adopted,  or 
shall  each  case  stand  on  its  own  ground?     I  will  only  observe 
that  if  in  a  single  instance  we  admit  the  statement  of  the  party 
on  his  own  oath,  without  any  other  proof,  it  must  be  admitted 
in  all  cases,  as  it  Avould  be  invidious  to  discriminate  between 
characters. 

3.  Property  of  value.     To  what  sum  shall  this  be  fixed  ?     I 
think  that  the  only  rule  will  be  to  grant  permission  for  ton 
nage  in  proportion  to  the  value  and  nature  of  such  property. 
Thus,  if  a  man  has  ten  thousand  (10,000)  dollars,  which  can  be 
remitted  only  in  rum,  he  may  be  allowed  a  vessel  of  such  ton 
nage  as  would  carry  10,000  dollars'  worth  of  rum.     Several 
men  having  property  in  the  same  place  may  unite  when  the 
property  of  each  would  not  be  sufficient  to  load  a  vessel. 

But  on  that  point  the  question  may  arise,  whether  we  will 
permit  the  importation  of  any  articles  in  payment  of  the  property 
abroad.  I  think  that  we  cannot,  as  the  law  now  stands,  refuse 
it.  Yet  the  effect  on  the  embargo  system  will  be  very  different, 
according  to  the  principle  adopted  on  that  point.  Thus,  it  has 
been  stated  that  Jamaica  owes  at  this  moment  2,000,000  dollars 
to  New  York  alone.  But  suppose  it  to  be  only  one  million. 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  379 

Three  or  four  fast  sailing  vessels  would  be  sufficient  to  bring 
that  property  in  specie ;  but  supposing  it  to  be  brought  half  in 
sugar  and  half  in  rum,  it  would  require  seven  or  eight  thousand 
tons  of  shipping,  or  about  40  ships  of  200  tons.  You  have 
mentioned  that  you  wanted  a  consultation  on  the  subject,  and  I 
have  thrown  those  hints  for  the  purpose  of  previously  bringing 
the  questions  before  you.  As  we  are  oppressed  with  applications, 
it  is  desirable  that  you  should  form  a  determination  as  soon  as 
possible. 

The  remainder  of  the  section  consists  of  provisos,  which  may 
be  executed  by  the  collectors.  The  act  and  copy  of  a  circular 
are  enclosed. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

March  30,  1808. 

A  bill  supplementary  to  the  several  Acts  for  laying  an  em 
bargo  on  vessels,  &c. 

For  vessels  coming  down  rivers,  <fec. — Be  it  enacted,  &c.,  that 
it  shall  not  be  lawful  for  any  vessel  laden  with  provisions  or 
lumber  to  pass  by  or  depart  from  any  port  of  entry  of  the  United 
States  without  examination  and  a  special  license  from  the  col 
lector  of  the  customs  of  such  port ;  nor  shall  any  vessel  be  so 
laden  on  any  part  of  the  coasts  or  shores  of  the  United  States 
without  the  limits  of  any  port  of  entry  until  previously  examined 
by  some  person  authorized  by  the  nearest  collector  of  the  cus 
toms,  and  a  special  license  from  the  said  collector  to  be  so  laden, 
and  to  depart  according  to  her  lawful  destination,  on  pain  of  in 
curring  the  same  penalties  and  forfeitures  as  if  the  said  lading 
had  been  exported  contrary  to  the  tenor  of  the  Acts  for  laying  an 
embargo,  &c.  And  it  shall  be  lawful  for  all  officers  of  the  reve 
nue  and  of  the  armed  vessels  of  the  United  States  to  bring  to 
and  examine  all  vessels  suspected  to  be  laden  with  provisions  or 
lumber,  and  to  have  departed,  or  to  be  about  to  depart,  without 
having  obtained  such  license,  and  on  examination  and  probable 


380  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

grounds  to  seize  and  place  the  same  under  a  due  course  of  legal 
inquiry. 

For  Passamaquoddy  and  St.  Mary's,  and  the  secret  coves  and 
inlets  of  the  coast. — And  be  it  further  enacted,  &c.,  that  where 
soever,  in  any  port  or  on  the  coasts  or  shores  of  the  United 
States  elsewhere,  a  collection  of  provisions  or  of  lumber  shall  be 
made  or  making  which  is  suspected  to  be  intended  for  exporta 
tion  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  said  laws  'for  laying  an 
embargo,  it  shall  be  lawful  for  the  collector  of  the  same  port,  or 
of  the  nearest  port,  by  any  agent  to  be  appointed  by  him,  to 
have  the  same  deposited,  if  provisions,  in  warehouses  to  be  ap 
proved  by  him,  and  to  be  duly  secured  by  lock,  the  key  of  which 
shall  remain  with  such  agent ;  or  if  lumber,  then  to  be  placed 
under  a  sufficient  guard  by  day  and  night,  the  expense  of  which 
shall  be  paid  by  the  owner  of  such  lumber,  or  be  levied  by  sale 
of  a  sufficient  part  thereof;  and  not  to  permit  the  said  provisions 
or  lumber  to  be  removed  but  to  such  other  places,  and  on  such 
conditions,  as  shall  in  his  judgment  sufficiently  guard  against 
their  being  exported  contrary  to  the  provisions  of  the  said  Acts. 
And  the  said  collectors  and  agents  shall  in  all  cases  within  the 
purview  of  this  Act  be  governed  by  such  regulations  as  shall 
be  prescribed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  with  the  appro 
bation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  in  all  matters  of 
detail  necessary  for  preventing  the  evasion  of  this  law  and  for 
carrying  the  same  into  effectual  execution. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

The  above  is  a  very  imperfect  sketch  (for  I  am  not  in  a  con 
dition  to  think  attentively)  of  what  your  better  knowledge  of  the 
subject  will  enable  you  [to]  prepare  for  preventing  the  evasions 
of  the  law  at  Passamaquoddy,  St.  Mary's,  and  everywhere  else 
as  to  provisions  and  lumber.  If  you  will'prepare  something  on 
these  or  any  other  ideas  you  like  better,  Mr.  Eppes  will  give 
them  to  Mr.  Newton  (or  you  can  enclose  them  to  him  yourself), 
and  he  will  push  them  through  the  House.  Affectionate  saluta 
tions. 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  381 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  1st  April,  1808. 

DEAE  SIR, — I  do  not  believe  that  any  principle  short  of  that 
proposed  in  the  bill  I  have  sketched  will  cut  off  the  evasions 
at  Passamaquoddy. 

No  consideration,  however,  should  induce  us  to  propose  a 
measure  not  strictly  constitutional.  But  although  the  objection 
has  been  made,  it  does  not  appear  to  me  that  that  provision  is 
liable  to  it.  By  the  Constitution,  no  preference  is  to  be  given 
to  the  ports  of  one  State  above  those  of  another  State.  But  it 
does  not  prohibit  giving  a  preference  to  some  ports  of  one  State 
above  others  in  the  same  State.  And  Congress  has  in  their 
system  of  laws  perpetually  acted  on  that  principle.  Thus,  some 
ports  are  only  ports  of  delivery,  where  no  vessel  can  unload 
without  having  previously  entered,  and,  in  some  cases,  touched 
at  another  port  called  a  port  of  entry.  Numerous  ports  by 
nature  are  not  even  ports  of  delivery  by  law,  but  can  receive 
goods  only  after  they  have  been  landed  at  the  port  of  entry  or 
delivery.  Amongst  even  the  ports  of  entry,  there  are  some  into 
which  foreign  vessels  are  not  admitted,  and  others  which  can 
receive  only  vessels  from  this  side  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
Provided  there  was  in  each  State  at  least  one  port  to  which  all 
those  united  advantages  were  given,  the  Constitution  has  been 
considered  as  fulfilled.  Thus,  in  Georgia,  Savannah  is  the  only 
one  which  admits  vessels  from  beyond  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 
I  think  that  your  alteration  No.  2  could  not  pass ;  at  all  events, 
it  would  be  very  oppressive,  and  in  its  exceptions  very  em 
barrassing  to  us.  The  words  "  in  conformity  with  treaty"  were 
introduced  only  to  limit  with  precision  the  extent  of  the  permis 
sion  ;  but  they  may  be  omitted,  and  an  instruction  given  to  the 
collector.  I  return  the  bill  and  your  notes,  that  you  may  give 
it  the  direction  which  you  had  suggested. 

Mr.  Simms's  letter  points  out  other  evasions,  which  can  be 
radically  removed  only  by  substituting  a  special  bond  with  con 
dition  to  land  in  all  cases  where  the  general  bond  is  now  allowed. 
"We  have  no  collector  at  Bridgetown,  N.J. ;  and  I  enclose  a 


382  "WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

recommendation.     We  have  no  marshal  in  North  Carolina,  and 
cannot  even  arrest  the  infractors  of  the  embargo. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


EMBARGO.  SKETCH  OF  A  BILL. 

1st  Sect. — Intended  to  provide  against  evasions  at  Passama- 
quoddy  and  St.  Mary's. 

2d  Sect. — To  permit  the  exportation  from  Michilimackinac 
of  furs  and  peltry  belonging  to  British  Indian  traders.  They 
have  a  right  by  treaty  so  to  trade  and  export.  By  the  embargo, 
their  vessels,  canoes,  &c.,  can  carry  nothing  away. 


Note. — The  first  section,  as  proposed  by  the  President,  is 
already  provided  for.  The  second  section  is,  I  think,  less 
efficient  than  the  first  of  this,  and  perhaps  more  objectionable. 
To  which  add  that  there  are  no  warehouses  at  Passamaquoddy. 


Sect.  1. — Be  it  enacted 

That  no  ship  or  vessel  having  any  cargo  whatever  on  board 
shall,  during  the  continuance  of  the  Act  laying  an  embargo  on 
all  ships  and  vessels  in  the  ports  and  harbors  of  the  United 
States,  be  allowed  to  depart  from  any  port  of  the  United  States 
for  any  other  port  or  district  of  the  United  States  adjacent  to 
the  territories,  colonies,  or  provinces  of  a  foreign  nation ;  nor 
shall  any  clearance  be  furnished  to  any  ship  or  vessel  bound  as 
aforesaid  without  the  special  permission  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States.  And  if  any  ship  or  vessel  shall,  contrary  to  the 
provisions  of  this  Act,  proceed  to  any  port  or  district  adjacent  to 
the  territories,  colonies,  or  provinces  of  a  foreign  nation,  such 
ship  or  vessel  with  her  cargo  shall  be  wholly  forfeited;  and  if 
the  same  shall  ~not  be  seized,  the  owner,  owners,  agents,  factors, 
and  freighters  of  such  ship  or  vessel  shall  for  every  such  offence 
forfeit  and  pay 

and  the  master  and  commander  of  such  ship  or  vessel,  as  well 
as  all  other  persons  who  shall  knowingly  be  concerned  in  such 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  383 

prohibited  voyage,  shall  each  respectively  forfeit  and  pay 

for  every  such  offence, 
whether  the  vessel  be  seized  or  not. 

Sect.  2. — And  be  it  further  enacted 

That  nothing  in  the  Act  laying  an  embargo  on  all  ships  and 
vessels  in  the  ports  and  harbors  of  the  United  States,  or  in  the 
several  Acts  supplementary  thereto,  or  in  the  Act  to  prohibit  the 
importation  of  certain  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise,  shall  be 
construed  to  prevent  the  exportation  by  land  or  inland  navi 
gation  of  furs  and  peltries  the  property  of  subjects  of  Great 
Britain,  and  by  them  purchased  from  the  Indians  dwelling 
within  the  territories  of  the  United  States,  from  said  terri 
tories  to  those  of  Great  Britain ;  nor  the  importation  by  land 
or  inland  navigation  from  the  territories  of  Great  Britain  into 
those  of  the  United  States  of  any  merchandise  the  property  of 
British  subjects  and  by  them  imported  for  the  use  of  the  Indians 
aforesaid  within  the  territories  of  the  United  States. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

April  2,  1808. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

On  the  amendments  to  the  embargo  law  I  am  perfectly  satis 
fied  with  whatever  you  have  concluded  on  after  consideration 
of  the  subject.  My  view  was  only  to  suggest  for  your  considera 
tion,  having  not  at  all  made  myself  acquainted  with  the  details 
of  that  law.  I  therefore  return  you  your  bill,  and  wish  it  to  be 
proposed.  I  will  this  day  nominate  Elmer.  The  delegates  of 
North  Carolina  expect  daily  to  receive  information  on  the  sub 
ject  of  a  marshal.  Is  the  register's  office  at  New  Orleans  vacant? 
Claiborne  says  it  is,  and  strongly  recommends  Robertson,  the 
secretary.  He  will  be  found  one  of  the  most  valuable  men  we 
have  brought  into  the  public  service,  for  integrity,  talents,  and 
amiability.  Affectionate  salutations. 


384  WEI  TINGS    OF    G  ALL  ATI  N.  1808. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  May  5,  1808. 

DEAK  SIR, — I  do  not  perceive  any  alteration  necessary  in  the 
letter,1  except  that  the  governors  do  not  generally  know  who 
are  the  importers  of  flour ;  shipments  of  that  article,  particularly 
to  the  southward,  being  commonly  made  by  merchants  residing 
in  Northern  ports.  Perhaps  it  would  be  better  that  the  gov 
ernors  should  merely  state  from  time  to  time  the  quantity  of 
flour  which  may  be  wanted,  directing  such  certificate  to  the 
Treasury,  and  not  to  the  collector ;  but  adding,  if  they  choose, 
the  port  whence  to  be  shipped,  and  the  names  of  shippers.  The 
great  objection  is,  that  whether  left  to  the  governors  or  to  the 
collectors,  it  is  giving  them  the  power  of  creating  a  monopoly 
in  favor  of  certain  individuals.  How  to  remedy  that  I  do  not 
know. 

The  letter,  if  written,  should  be  extended  to  the  governors  of 
Georgia  and  New  Hampshire.  Indeed,  Rhode  Island  and  Con 
necticut  do  not  raise  the  wheat  necessary  for  their  consumption. 
It  would  operate  more  powerfully  as  a  check  on  the  collectors 
if  I  was  permitted  to  communicate  to  them  the  letter  or  its 
substance.  Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  let  me  know  which, 
and  in  what  shape? 

I  enclose  three  applications  for  New  Orleans.  As  I  have  not 
yet  received  the  statements  from  the  collectors  in  relation  to 
them,  it  would  be  premature  to  decide.  But  I  wish  to  have 
your  general  ideas  on  them,  principally  as  to  the  articles  of  ship- 
chandlery,  which,  as  well  as  soap,  tallow,  butter,  cheese,  and 
lard,  is  generally  imported  from  the  Atlantic  ports. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

Other  articles  besides  flour  may  be  detained,  which  the  States 
written  to  would  want. 

What  shall  I  do  with  E.  Livingston,  whose  arrival  here  may 


1  Letter  to  the  Governors  of  New  Orleans,  Georgia,  &c. ;  see  Jefferson's 
Works,  v.  286,  under  date  of  May  6. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  385 

be  daily  expected,  as  you  will  see  by  the  enclosed  letter  from 
Dallas? 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIK 

May  6,  1808. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

In  the  outset  of  the  business  of  detentions,  I  think  it  impos 
sible  to  form  precise  rules.  After  a  number  of  cases  shall  have 
arisen,  they  may  probably  be  thrown  into  groups  and  subjected 
to  rules.  The  great  leading  object  of  the  Legislature  was,  and 
ours  in  execution  of  it  ought  to  be,  to  give  complete  effect  to 
the  embargo  laws.  They  have  bidden  agriculture,  commerce, 
navigation,  to  bow  before  that  object,  to  be  nothing  when  in 
competition  with  that.  Finding  all  their  endeavors  at  general 
rules  to  be  evaded,  they  finally  gave  us  the  power  of  detention 
as  the  panacea,  and  I  am  clear  we  ought  to  use  it  freely,  that 
we  may  by  a  fair  experiment  know  the  power  of  this  great 
weapon,  the  embargo.  Therefore,  to  propositions  to  carry 
flour  or  other  provisions  into  the  Chesapeake,  the  Delaware, 
the  Hudson,  and  other  exporting  places,  we  should  say  boldly  it 
is  not  wanted  there  for  consumption,  and  the  carrying  it  there 
is  too  suspicious  to  be  permitted.  In  consequence  of  the  letters 
to  the  governors  of  the  flour-importing  States,  we  may  also  say 
boldly  that  there  being  no  application  from  the  governor  is  a 
proof  it  is  not  wanting  in  those  States,  and  therefore  must  not 
be  carried.  As  to  shuffling  of  cotton,  tobacco,  flaxseed,  tar,  &c., 
from  one  port  to  another,  it  may  be  some  trifling  advantage 
to  individuals  to  change  their  property  out  of  one  form  into 
another,  but  it  is  not  of  a  farthing's  benefit  to  the  nation  at 
large,  and  risks  their  great  object  in  the  embargo.  The  want 
of  these  at  a  particular  place  should  be  very  notorious  to  the 
collector  and  others  to  take  off  suspicion  of  illicit  intentions. 
Dry  goods  of  Europe,  coal,  bricks,  &c.,  are  articles  entirely 
without  suspicion.  I  hazard  these  things  for  your  considera 
tion,  and  I  send  you  a  copy  of  the  letter  to  the  governors, 
which  may  be  communicated  in  form  to  the  collectors,  to 
strengthen  the  ground  of  suspicion.  You  will  be  so  good  as 
VOL.  i.— 26 


386  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

to  decide  these  cases  yourself,  without  forwarding  them  to  me. 
Wherever  you  are  clear  either  way,  so  decide.  Where  you  are 
doubtful,  consider  me  as  voting  for  detention,  being  satisfied 
that  individuals  ought  to  yield  their  private  interests  to  this 
great  public  object. 

Should  Mr.  Brent,  of  Nanjemoy,  resign,  appoint  the  suc 
cessor  recommended  by  J.  T.  Mason,  or  any  other  you  please. 

I  thought  Dr. was  to  have  recommended  a  Republican 

for  Vienna.  If  he  does  not,  let  a  commission  issue  for  John 
Ennals.  If  Mr.  Livingston's  business  is  the  Batture,  he  may 
be  told  that  we  believe  the  public  right  so  good  that  we  think 
it  our  duty  to  keep  it  out  of  the  possession  of  any  adversary 
claimant  until  the  Legislature  shall  decide,  which  they  will 
probably  do,  or  provide  for,  at  the  next  session.  If  you  can 
possibly  have  him  arrested  here  for  his  public  debt,  the  oppor 
tunity  ought  not  to  be  lost.  I  really  think  it  would  be  well  to 
recommend  to  every  collector  to  consider  every  shipment  of  pro 
visions,  lumber,  flaxseed,  tar,  cotton,  tobacco,  &c.,  enumerating 
the  articles,  as  sufficiently  suspicious  for  detention  and  reference 
here.  Accept  my  affectionate  salutations  and  adieux. 

P.S. — The  post  for  Monticello  leaves  this  every  Tuesday  at 
3  P.M.  and  Friday  5  P.M.     I  return  in  a  month. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  10th  May,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  printed  copies  of  the  two  last  circulars 
respecting  the  embargo. 

The  only  points  requiring  your  decision  which  have  occurred 
are  the  following : 

1.  Governor  Harrison's  application  to  rent  a  lead-mine.     If 
acceded  to,  what  must  be  the  terms  ?    On  account  of  the  greater 
distance,  those  given  to  John  Brown,  of  Kentucky,  might  not 
be  acceptable  to  Harrison. 

2.  The  revenue  cutter  of  Savannah  has  been  declared  not  to 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  387 

be  seaworthy;  she  was  an  old  galley.     Your  approbation  for 
selling  her  and  purchasing  a  new  one  is  wanted. 

3.  Shee  and  McColloch  recommend  that  the  regular  trading 
vessels  to  New  Orleans,  which  act  like  packets  and  belong  to  per 
sons  of  whom  there  is  no  suspicion,  may  be  permitted  generally 
to  go  and  take  cargoes,  excepting  only  provisions  and  lumber, 
which  are  the  only  dangerous  articles,  for  the  West  Indies. 

Young  Rittenhouse,  who  has  brought  Armstrong's  last  de 
spatches,  and  left  Amsterdam  on  24th  March,  says  that  there 
was  no  expectation  there  of  our  continuing  the  embargo;  but 
the  idea  with  our  bankers  and  other  well-informed  merchants  was 
that  we  would  declare  war  against  England,  or  that  France,  if 
we  did  not,  would  declare  war  against  us.  Holland,  without 
any  commerce  left  since  the  last  decrees  and  our  embargo,  is  in 
a  deplorable  state;  her  finances  verging  towards  bankruptcy; 
the  French  every  day  more  unpopular.  The  general  opinion 
there  was  that  Bonaparte  intended  the  crown  of  Spain  for  him 
self.  If  true,  is  it  not  premature  in  him  ?  and  does  he  not  run 
the  risk  of  losing  all  her  colonies?  Will  not  Great  Britain  in 
that  case  take  possession  of  Cuba?  And  what  effect  would  that 
revolution  have  on  our  present  situation  in  relation  with  both 
parties?  If  Bonaparte  has  such  project  at  heart,  I  think  that 
in  almost  every  point  of  view  the  result  must  be  favorable  to  us. 
The  occupation  of  Cuba  by  either  France  or  England  and  the 
transfer  of  our  quarrel  about  Louisiana  boundaries  to  France 
would  be  the  only  drawbacks.1 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 


WASHINGTON,  16th  May,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  the  application  of  Fanning,  Coles,  and 
others  to  send  a  vessel  in  ballast,  on  account  of  a  new  question 
on  which  I  have  doubts.  Those  gentlemen  have,  with  much 


1  See  the  reply  to  this  letter  in  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  290,  dated  May 
17,  1808. 


388  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

perseverance  and  enterprise,  discovered  a  large  quantity  of  san 
dal-wood  on  one  of  the  Friendly  Islands,  in  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
One  cargo  they  took  to  China,  and  have  brought  the  proceeds 
within  a  few  days.  They  had  previously  heard  from  their  cap 
tain  that  he  had  left  between  two  and  three  hundred  tons,  being 
the  residue  of  what  the  island  can  aiford,  on  the  island,  and  had 
made  their  application  through  Dr.  Mitchell  in  time.  They 
have  received  permission  to  send  the  ship  to  the  island  and  bring 
the  wood  here.  But  they  wish  for  permission  to  take  it  to  China, 
which  is  its  only  market,  and  where  it  will  fetch  about  one  hun 
dred  thousand  dollars,  and  to  bring  a  cargo  as  usual  from  that 
country.  And  they  represent  that  almost  all  the  expense  con 
sisting  in  the  length  of  the  voyage  and  freight,  a  double  voyage 
of  twelve  months  each  would  consume  all  the  profits.  As  their 
characters  are  perfectly  fair,  and  indeed  friendly,  as  the  voyage  is 
attended  at  this  time  writh  less  danger  to  the  vessel  and  seamen 
than  to  a  belligerent  port,  as  the  English  will  get  the  wood  if 
they  do  not  take  it  within  eighteen  months  from  last  September, 
and  as  the  sale  of  the  wood  seems  necessary  in  order  to  effect  the 
object  of  bringing  the  property  home,  I  would  have  had  no  hesi 
tation  in  granting  the  request,  had  it  not  been  for  the  expressions 
(in  the  7th  Section  of  the  Act  of  1 2th  March,  which  gives  the 
power)  "that  such  vessel  shall  not  during  the  voyage  be  en 
gaged  in  any  traffic,  freighting,  or  other  employment."  Selling 
the  wood  in  China  and  taking  a  cargo  in  exchange  is  traffic. 
But  was  it  intended  by  the  law  to  exclude  any  traffic  whatever, 
or  only  any  traffic  other  than  that  necessary  to  bring  the  property 
or  its  proceeds  to  the  United  States  ?  The  parties  wait  for  your 
decision. 

The  two  enclosed  letters  from  Passamaquoddy  and  Sacket's 
Harbor  are  sent  for  information.  The  collector  of  Passama 
quoddy  is,  as  you  will  perceive,  a  very  bad  writer,  but  he  is  a 
man  of  great  integrity,  zeal,  and  activity,  and  full  reliance  may 
be  placed  on  his  facts  as  on  his  exertions.  I  write  to  the  district 
attorney  of  Maine  to  proceed  or  to  send  a  lawyer  to  Passama 
quoddy  for  the  purpose  of  collecting  evidence  and  taking  all 
the  necessary  steps  for  prosecuting  the  agents  there  and  their 
employers  in  other  seaports. 


1808.  LETTEES,    ETC.  389 

Sacket  has  resigned,  I  believe,  from  fear,  or  at  least  from  a 
wish  not  to  lose  his  popularity  with  the  people.  It  is  a  fact  that 
large  quantities,  particularly  of  potash,  have  arrived  at  Montreal 
from  his  district,  which  extends  along  the  St.  Lawrence  from 
the  Canada  line  to  Lake  Ontario.  I  have  written  to  Governor 
Tompkins  for  a  successor.  I  believe  that  the  prohibitions  laid 
on  the  coasting  trade  by  your  last  instructions  are  too  severe,  and 
must  be  somewhat  relaxed  where  it  can  be  done  without  danger. 
I  will  prepare  something  to  that  effect  for  your  consideration. 
Please  to  return  the  letters.1 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  May  16,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — Since  writing  my  letter  of  yesterday,  I  have 
prepared  the  draft  of  a  circular  to  the  governors  not  before  ad 
dressed,  under  which  I  mean  to  cover  the  printed  copies  of  that 
of  May  6,  which  I  have  requested  you  to  send  me.  This  draft 
I  enclose  for  your  perusal.  I  salute  you  affectionately. 

[Enclosure.] 

SIR, — The  numerous  and  bold  evasions  of  the  several  embargo 
laws  threatened  altogether  to  defeat  the  great  and  interesting  ob 
jects  for  which  they  were  adopted,  and  principally  under  cover 
of  the  coasting  trade.  Congress,  therefore,  finding  insufficient 
all  attempts  to  bind  unprincipled  adventurers  by  general  rules, 
at  length  gave  a  discretionary  power  to  detain  absolutely  all  ves 
sels  suspected  of  intentions  to  evade  the  embargo  laws,  whereso 
ever  bound.  In  order  to  give  to  this  law  the  effect  it  intended, 
we  find  it  necessary  to  consider  every  vessel  as  suspicious  which 
has  on  board  any  articles  of  domestic  produce  in  demand  at  for 
eign  markets,  and  most  especially  provisions.  But  as  some  of 

1  See  the  reply  to  this  letter  in  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  291,  dated  20th  May, 

1808. 


390  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

the  States  do  not  raise  a  sufficiency  of  these  articles  for  their  own 
consumption,  I  addressed  to  their  governors  a  circular  letter,  of 
which  the  enclosed  is  a  copy.  To  those  whose  States,  ordinarily, 
produce  a  sufficiency  within  themselves  I  did  not  address  a  copy. 
But  should  any  extraordinary  deficiency  render  a  supply  neces 
sary,  in  the  judgment  of  your  Excellency,  for  the  internal  con 
sumption  of  your  State,  your  certificates,  given  as  desired  in  the 
enclosed  circular,  will  be  eifectual  for  obtaining  the  necessary 
supplies.  Your  own  sense  of  the  importance  of  giving  full  effect 
to  this  measure,  and  of  preventing  its  being  perverted  into  a 
mere  sacrifice  of  the  worthy  to  the  unprincipled  portion  of  so 
ciety,  will,  I  am  sure,  engage  your  watchfulness  over  every  part 
of  the  transactions  arising  under  your  authorization.  I  salute 
your  Excellency  with  great  consideration  and  respect. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  May  23,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  enclosed  letter  from  Mr.  Woolsey  contains 
our  last  accounts  from  Lake  Champlain;  and  that  from  Mr. 
Astor  the  amount  of  supplies  expected  in  Canada  from  Cham- 
plain  and  St.  Lawrence.  I  fear  that  the  want  of  energy  and 
resignation  of  Sacket  will  facilitate  the  evasions  in  the  last  dis 
trict.  On  Champlain  I  believe  that  everything  that  could  be 
done  has  been  done. 

The  mail  travels  so  slowly  from  Passamaquoddy  that  my  last 
official  accounts  reach  only  to  the  28th  of  last  month,  when  the 
opposition  appeared  still  stronger;  the  revenue  boats  having 
I  been  fired  at  in  the  night  and  open  violations  continuing  to  take 
place.  It  must  have  been  still  more  difficult  in  any  degree  to 
carry  the  law  into  effect  subsequent  to  that  date,  as  by  return 
vessels  it  appears  that  between  2d  and  7th  May  there  were 
entered  19,000  barrels  flour,  4000  do.  pork,  4000  do.  naval 
stores,  &c.  The  people  are  paid  by  the  British  or  disaffected, 
and  no  assistance  to  be  expected  until  the  arrival  of  the  Wasp, 
which  sailed  from  New  York  on  7th  inst.  Be  that  as  it  may, 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  391 

all  the  evil  which  can  accrue,  both  there  and  on  the  Champlain, 
is  now  at  an  end,  and  all  we  have  to  watch  is  our  common 
coasting  trade. 

There  is  one  species  of  evasions  against  which  there  can  be 
no  guard  but  in  the  watchfulness  of  our  collectors  and  officers. 
I  mean  loading  secretly  and  departing  without  clearance ;  and  I 
think  that  we  have  little  to  fear  from  any  other  quarter.  The 
great  violations  which  have  heretofore  taken  place  have  been 
either  on  the  frontier  districts^jiicJrLthe^  sailing  of  vessels  before 
the  penalties  were  enforced.  Of  this  I  have  a  clear  proof  in  the 
return  of  vessels  arrived  at  Havana  from  the  United  States  till 
the  llth  ultimo,  and  deposited  by  our  consul  in  the  Depart 
ment  of  State.  I  have  analyzed  it ;  and  taking  two  periods  of 
forty-two  days  each,  the  first  from  17th  January  to  28th  Feb 
ruary,  and  the  other  from  1st  March  to  llth  April,  I  find  that 
forty-three  vessels  arrived  from  the  United  States  during  the 
first  period,  and  only  four  during  the  last,  one  of  which  was  in 
ballast,  and  only  one  had  flour;  an  evident  proof  that  the  em 
bargo  operates,  and  that  since  the  penalties  were  enacted  and  the 
second  supplementary  Act  was  passed  the  evasions  (those  on  the 
British  lines  excepted)  have  been  less  than  we  had  apprehended. 

From  that  view  of  the  subject  I  have  been  induced  to  believe 
that  the  system  of  licenses  by  the  governors  was  unnecessary; 
and  permit  me  to  add  that  it  will,  I  think,  be  less  efficient  than 
our  own  regulations.  For  we  transfer  thereby  a  limited  discre 
tion,  which  was  vested  in  collectors  responsible  to  ourselves  and 
subject  to  our  continual  control,  to  men  not  under  our  control, 
afraid  of  clamor  and  of  popularity,  and  transfer  it  without  any 
limitation.  The  best  mode  certainly  would  have  been,  if  recourse 
must  be  had  to  the  governors,  merely  to  call  on  them  for  infor 
mation.  Knowing  Governors  Sullivan  and  Charles  Pinckney 
as  we  do,  we  can  have  no  confidence  in  the  last,  and  must  rest 
assured  that  the  other  will  refuse  no  certificates.  They  begin 
already  to  arrive,  and  for  large  quantities.  Disliking  the  mode, 
and  extremely  desirous  that  some  less  liable  to  abuse  and  to 
charge  of  favoritism  might  be  substituted,  at  least  that  it  might 
not  be  extended  to  the  other  governors,  I  have  carefully  ex 
amined  the  subject,  and  think  that  I  have  formed  a  way  which 


392  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

will,  without  apparent  retractation,  afford  necessary  supplies  in 
such  a  manner  as  to  render  abuses  almost  impossible,  and,  at  all 
events,  do  away  the  necessity  of  writing  to  other  governors. 
You  will  find  it  in  the  annexed  circular,  which  I  wrote  last 
Friday.  Indeed,  it  became  utterly  impossible  to  decide  on  the 
multiplied  applications  and  references  instead  of  adopting  some 
general  rule ;  the  clamor  against,  and  unpopularity  of  the  abso 
lute  restrictions  were  increasing;  and  you  may  indeed  rely  upon  it 
as  a  fact  that  the  consumption  of  articles  from  other  States  and, 
in  some  instances,  dependence  on  such  importations  was  infinitely 
beyond  what  you  had  imagined.  I  will  mention  a  single  instance. 
The  greater  part  of  the  South  Carolina  sea-coast  and  the  whole 
of  Georgia  have,  since  the  increased  cultivation  of  cotton,  aban 
doned  that  of  corn,  and  depend  entirely  on  importations  from 
North  Carolina  and  Virginia.  By  confining,  as  I  have  done, 
the  value  of  the  provisions  transported  to  one-eighth  part  of  the 
amount  of  the  bond,  there  can  be  no  temptation  to  carry  away 
the  article.  Indeed,  there  is  not,  I  believe,  one  instance  of  a 
regular  trading  vessel  between  two  ports  having  violated  the 
embargo,  under  the  usual  bonds.  But  this  new  limitation  added 
to  the  penalties  which  may  be  recovered  by  the  law,  independent 
of  the  bond,  places  us  on  a  much  safer  footing,  and  at  the  same 
time  much  less  exceptionable,  than  the  permission  from  the  gov 
ernors,  under  which  whole  cargoes  of  provisions  will  be  perpet 
ually  transported,  and  that,  perhaps,  done  by  persons  who  have 
violated  the  embargo  without  the  knowledge  of  the  governors. 

Excuse,  I  pray,  the  incorrectness  and  hurry  of  this  letter.  I 
have  had  more  to  write  than  at  any  former  period,  and,  although 
wanting  some  relaxation,  it  is  as  yet  impossible  for  me  to  be  absent 
even  for  a  week.1 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

1  See  the  reply  to  this  letter  in  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  296,  dated  May  27, 
1808. 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  393 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  28th  May,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  enclosed  letters  from  Lake  Cliamplain  show 
that  we  have  not  been  properly  supported  by  the  people,  and  that 
the  love  of  gain  and  British  agency  had  rendered  the  stoppage 
of  intercourse  so  unpopular  that  even  Sailly  and  other  truly 
friendly  characters  were  afraid  to  act.  I  have,  of  course,  writ 
ten  to  the  district  attorney  to  institute  prosecutions,  &c.  But 
although  the  waters  are  low,  and  nothing  more  can  be  done  this 
summer  in  a  large  way,  I  think,  considering  the  temper  there, 
and  the  necessity  of  having  the  laws  respected,  that  a  company 
of  regulars  and  two  armed  gunboats  will  be  necessary  on  the 
lake  near  the  line.  It  may  with  truth  be  said  that  this  is 
proper,  on  account  of  the  Canadians,  who  did  in  fact  carry 
away  by  force  two  of  the  rafts. 

E.  Mounger,  collector  of  Savannah,  having  resigned,  I  send 
recommendations  in  favor  of  R.  Wall,  the  naval  officer,  as  suc 
cessor.  They  seem  sufficient.  If  he  is  appointed,  a  vacancy 
will  arise  in  his  own  office,  for  which  there  are  two  candidates, 
of  whom  I  know  nothing  but  what  the  letters  state. 

We  begin,  with  the  help  of  my  last  circular,  to  do  better  with 
the  embargo.  Unless  an  absolute  and  general  rule  be  given  to 
the  collectors,  they  never  act  with  uniformity,  which  was  the 
case  in  this  respect.  Governor  Sullivan  dares  not  refuse  flour 
certificates.  One  mail  alone  brought  me  permits  for  eleven 
thousand  barrels,  exclusively  of  corn  and  rye  meal ;  as  we  must 
let  those  go  at  all  events  and  without  restriction,  there  is  really 
more  danger  from  that  quarter  than  from  any  other.  I  intend 
to  take  my  children  northwardly  on  Tuesday  next,  and  to  be 
back  about  ten  days  after.  I  wanted  myself  a  little  respite ; 
but  the  business  of  the  office  had  not  till  this  time  permitted 
me  to  be  absent. 

I  have  on  file  about  twenty  applications  for  permission  to  send 
vessels  in  ballast,  which  I  have  concluded  to  keep  till  your  re 
turn.  You  will  receive  one  from  a  Mr.  Mansfield  in  behalf  of 
Mr.  Lee,  consul  at  Bordeaux,  which  is  not  supported  by  the 


394  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

species  of  proofs  which  have  been  required,  and,  as  I  think,  is 
a  mere  speculation. 

With  great  respect  and  sincere  attachment,  your   obedient 
servant. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  15th  July,  1808. 

DEAE  SIR, — Governor  Sullivan's  certificates  received  at  the 
Treasury  to  this  day  amount  to  49,800  barrels  of  flour,  99,400 
bushels  of  corn,  560  tierces  of  rice,  and  2000  bushels  of  rye ;  and 
in  addition  thereto  he  has  given  certificates  giving  permission 
for  either  7450  barrels  of  flour  or  30,000  bushels  of  corn ;  so 
that  the  whole  quantity  of  flour  may  be  57,250  barrels,  and 
the  whole  quantity  of  corn  may  be  129,400  bushels.  Amongst 
the  certificates  I  am  told  that  some  are  for  persons  resident  in 
Alexandria  or  Georgetown,  of  whom  he  could  know  nothing. 

Governor  Langdon  has  given  four  certificates  for  so  many 
cargoes  of  flour,  say  4000  barrels,  and  two  certificates  each  for 
a  cargo  of  rice.  No  certificates  have  been  transmitted  by  the 
other  governors.  I  have  read  the  papers  relative  to  the  col 
lector  of  New  Bedford,  and  think  that  he  must  be  dismissed. 

I  think  that  it  would  be  useful  that  you  should  write  to  Mr. 
Robert  Smith,  suggesting  that  during  the  summer  all  the  gun 
boats  actually  manned  and  in  commission  should  be  distributed 
through  a  greater  number  of  ports  and  bays  to  assist  the  em 
bargo,  and  that  he  would  confer  with  me  on  the  subject  on  my 
passage  through  Baltimore.  I  have  letters  from  Newport,  Port 
land,  Machias,  Nantucket,  Matthias  Vineyard,  &c.,  &c.,  on  the 
subject. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  395 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 


YORK,  27th  July,  1808. 
DEAR  SIR,  —  Towards  the  end  of  the  last  session  of  Congress, 
and  after  your  interview  with  Hoge  on  the  subject  of  the  Western 
road,  I  had  suggested  that  from  respect  to  the  State  of  Pennsyl 
vania,  and  considering  the  manner  also  in  which  the  subject  had 
been  treated  last  winter  in  the  Legislature  of  that  State,  it  would 
be  expedient  to  instruct  the  commissioners  to  survey  and  locate 
from  Brownsville  westwardly,  both  to  Wheeling  and  through 
Washington  to  some  other  spot  on  the  Ohio,  reporting  both  sur 
veys  to  you  for  your  determination.  It  was  my  impression  that 
you  had  acquiesced,  and  would  instruct  the  commissioners  to  that 
effect.  I  find,  however,  that  it  has  not  been  done,  and  I  seriously 
fear  the  consequences  at  this  time.  Did  I  not  believe  the  course 
which  I  have  mentioned  to  be  perfectly  proper,  I  certainly  would 
not  recommend  it  merely  on  account  of  those  consequences.  Per 
mit  me,  however,  to  state  that  the  county  of  Washington,  with 
which  I  am  well  acquainted,  having  represented  it  six  years  in 
Congress,  gives  a  uniform  majority  of  about  2000  votes  in  our 
favor,  and  that  if  this  be  thrown,  by  reason  of  this  road,  in  a 
wrong  scale,  we  will  infallibly  lose  the  State  of  Pennsylvania 
at  the  next  election  ;  for  the  imprudent  steps  taken  there  seem 
unavoidably  to  lead  to  three  distinct  electoral  tickets.  I  have 
been  reminded  of  this  subject  by  the  enclosed  letter  from  an 
influential  and  steady  Republican  of  that  county.  And  as  it 
respects  the  road  itself,  I  will  add,  1st,  that  a  thorough  ex 
amination  seems  due  to  the  law  of  the  State;  2d,  that  the 
difference  in  point  of  distance  will  be  even  less  than  stated  in 
the  enclosed  letter,  if  the  Ohio  be  struck  at  Short  Creek  instead 
of  Wheeling,  —  say  about  J  mile  to  any  given  point,  westwardly, 
Cincinnati,  or  any  other;  3d,  that  the  important  part  of  this 
Western  road  terminates  at  Brownsville,  on  the  Monongahela, 
and  that  its  continuation,  which  is  sufficient  to  agitate  all  that 
country,  will  never  require  much  expense,  as  it  will  be  only  a 
travelling  and  not  a  transportation  road.  Indeed,  the  ques 
tion,  as  it  relates  to  the  public  interest,  is  in  every  respect  so 


396  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

extremely  insignificant,  that  I  am  very  desirous  that  it  should 
not  be  permitted  to  do  much  positive  evil. 

Will  you  have  the  goodness  to  consider  the  subject?  And  if 
you  approve,  I  can  write  to  the  commissioners  to  make  the 
examination  of  both  routes  for  your  decision.1 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  29th  July,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  sent  yesterday  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
and  he  will  transmit  to  you,  a  letter  from  General  Dearborn, 
and  another  from  General  Lincoln,  showing  the  violations  of 
the  embargo.  As  these  are  now  effected  by  vessels  which  go  off 
without  clearances,  with  intention  either  of  putting  their  loads 
on  board  of  vessels  at  sea,  chiefly  British,  or  of  sailing  over  to 
Nova  Scotia  or  the  West  Indies,  the  danger  is  much  greater 
from  New  York  northwardly,  principally  from  Massachusetts, 
than  from  either  the  Delaware,  Chesapeake,  or  North  Carolina. 
This  arises  from  the  proximity  of  the  Northern  seaports  to  the 
sea,  which  enables  them  to  be  at  sea  in  two  hours  from  the  time 
they  leave  the  wharf,  from  the  vicinity  of  Nova  Scotia,  and 
from  the  number  of  British  vessels  hovering  for  that  purpose 
between  that  colony  and  Massachusetts.  There  are  some,  also, 
in  Long  Island  Sound,  and  amongst  the  islands  between  Nan- 
tucket  and  Rhode  Island.  The  Senate  did,  by  an  amendment, 
confine  to  districts  adjacent  to  foreign  territories  the  power  of 
seizing  deposits  of  provisions,  &c.,  which  the  House  had,  on 
my  suggestion,  made  general,  and  which,  connected  with  the 
authority  of  detaining  vessels  ostensibly  bound  coastwise,  would 
have  given  us  much  additional  security.  But  now  the  collectors 
cannot  seize  any  articles,  though  placed  in  the  most  suspicious 
and  remote  places,  nor  even  on  board  of  vessels  remaining  or 

1  See  the  reply  to  this  letter  in  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  333,  dated  6th 
August,  1808. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  397 

apparently  intended  to  remain  in  harbor  (Passamaquoddy  and 
other  districts  adjacent  to  foreign  territories  only  excepted);  and 
where  they  have  attempted  it  suits  are  commenced  against  them. 
Mr.  Gelston  here,  cautious  as  he  is,  has  nerve  and  zeal,  and  has 
made  several  doubtful  seizures,  for  which  he  is  sued.  But  we 
cannot  expect  that  the  collectors  generally  will  risk  all  they 
are  worth  in  doubtful  cases ;  and  it  results  that,  until  Congress 
meets,  we  must  depend  entirely  on  force  for  checking  this  man 
ner  of  violating  the  law.  I  have  requested  Mr.  Smith  to  send 
northwardly  all  the  force  that  can  be  spared  either  in  gunboats 
or  cruising  vessels ;  and  I  have,  presuming  on  your  approbation, 
which  I  now  request,  directed  General  Lincoln  to  sell  the  small 
cutter  and  to  purchase  and  man  one  fitted  for  the  present  exi 
gencies.  I  contemplate  a  similar  arrangement  for  the  New 
London  and  Portsmouth  cutters,  so  as  to  obtain  in  all  three 
good  cruisers  on  that  coast  exclusively  of  the  vessels  belonging 
to  the  navy,  and  request  you  will  authorize  me  to  make  that 
and  any  other  similar  alteration  in  the  cutter  establishment 
which  may  be  wanted. 

On  the  Lakes  we  are  in  no  better  situation.  I  have  sent  a 
blank  commission  for  the  collectorship  of  Sacket's  Harbor,  and 
new  instructions  to  all  the  collectors,  and  will  send  a  proper  per 
son,  for  whom  I  am  now  inquiring,  to  examine  strictly  the  con 
duct  of  all  those  officers,  give  proper  directions,  inquire  whether 
any  further  removals  be  necessary,  and  obtain  the  names  of  the 
infractors  in  order  to  institute  suits.  But  want  of  efficiency  in 
the  law  at  first,  and  of  energy  in  the  collectors  on  Lake  Ontario 
afterwards,  have,  together  with  avarice  and  the  open  encourage 
ment  by  Federalists,  organized  opposition  in  that  quarter  to  a 
degree  which  will  probably  baffle  all  our  endeavors.  Nothing 
but  force  on  land  (for  there  the  collectors  have  the  right  to  seize 
property  on  shore)  will  put  a  stop  to  the  violations.  As  to  judi 
ciary  redress  there  is  very  little  hope.  .For,  a  few  days  ago,  a 
Republican  jury,  notwithstanding  the  charge  of  Judge  Sailly 
and  the  efforts  of  the  attorney,  have  refused  to  find  bills  against 
the  Canadians  made  prisoners  after  resistance  on  board  'one  of 
the  rafts  which  they  were  forcibly  carrying  away  across  the  line 
on  Lake  Champlain. 


398  WEITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

The  recruiting  service  cannot,  scattered  as  it  is  throughout 
the  United  States,  procure  shortly  many  men  for  that  quarter ; 
and  it  is  not  improbable  that  you  will  still  be  obliged  to  call  out 
militia  in  that  quarter. 

With  those  difficulties  we  must  struggle  as  well  as  we  can  this 
summer ;  but  I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  if  the  embargo  must 
be  persisted  in  any  longer,  two  principles  must  necessarily  be 
adopted  in  order  to  make  it  sufficient :  1st,  that  not  a  single 
vessel  shall  be  permitted  to  move  without  the  special  permission 
of  the  Executive;  2d,  that  the  collectors  be  invested  with  the 
general  power  of  seizing  property  anywhere,  and  taking  the 
rudders  or  otherwise  effectually  preventing  the  departure  of  any 
vessel  in  harbor,  though  ostensibly  intended  to  remain  there; 
and  that  without  being  liable  to  personal  suits.  I  am  sensible 
that  such  arbitrary  powers  are  equally  dangerous  and  odious. 
But  a  restrictive  measure  of  the  nature  of  the  embargo  applied 
to  a  nation  under  such  circumstances  as  the  United  States  can 
not  be  enforced  without  the  assistance  of  means  as  strong  as 
the  measure  itself.  To  that  legal  authority  to  prevent,  seize, 
and  detain  must  be  added  a  sufficient  physical  force  to  carry 
it  into  effect;  and  although  I  believe  that  in  our  seaports  little 
difficulty  would  be  encountered,  we  must  have  a  little  army 
along  the  Lakes  and  British  lines  generally.  With  that  result 
we  should  not  perhaps  be  much  astonished.  For  the  Federal 
ists  having  at  least  prevented  the  embargo  from  becoming  a 
measure  generally  popular,  and  the  people  being  distracted  by 
the  complexity  of  the  subject,  orders  of  council,  decrees,  em 
bargoes,  and  wanting  a  single  object  which  might  rouse  their 
patriotism  and  unite  their  passions  and  affections,  selfishness  has 
assumed  the  reins  in  several  quarters,  and  the  people  are  now 
there  altogether  against  the  law. 

In  such  quarters  the  same  thing  happens  which  has  taken 
place  everywhere  else,  and  even  under  the  strongest  govern 
ments  under  similar  circumstances.  The  navy  of  Great  Britain 
is  hardly  sufficient  to  prevent  smuggling;  and  you  recollect, 
doubtless,  the  army  of  employes  and  the  sanguinary  code  of 
France, — hardly  adequate  to  guard  their  land  frontiers. 

That  in  the  present  situation  of  the  world  every  effort  should 


-1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  399 

be  attempted  to  preserve  the  peace  of  this  nation  cannot  be 
doubted.  But  if  the  criminal  party-rage  of  Federalists  and 
Tories  shall  have  so  far  succeeded  as  to  defeat  our  endeavors  to 
obtain  that  object  by  the  only  measure  that  could  possibly  have 
effected  it,  we  must  submit  and  prepare  for  war.  I  am  so  much 
overwhelmed  even  here  with  business  and  interruptions,  that  I 
have  not  time  to  write  correctly  or  even  with  sufficient  perspi 
cuity  ;  but  you  will  guess  at  my  meaning  where  it  is  not  suffi 
ciently  clear.  I  mean  generally  to  express  an  opinion  founded 
on  the  experience  of  this  summer,  that  Congress  must  either  in 
vest  the  Executive  with  the  most  arbitrary  powers  and  sufficient 
force  to  carry  the  embargo  into  effect,  or  give  it  up  altogether. 
And  in  this  last  case  I  must  confess  that,  unless  a  change  takes 
place  in  the  measures  of  the  European  powers,  I  see  no  al 
ternative  but  war.  But  with  whom?  This  is  a  tremendous 
question  if  tested  only  by  policy ;  and  so  extraordinary  is  our 
situation  that  it  is  equally  difficult  to  decide  it  on  the  ground 
of  justice,  the  only  one  by  which  I  wish  the  United  States  to 
be  governed.  At  all  events,  I  think  it  the  duty  of  the  Execu 
tive  to  contemplate  that  result  as  probable,  and  to  be  prepared 
accordingly.1 

I  remain,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  5th  August,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  forgot  to  enclose  in  my  last  the  letters  from 
Barnstable  and  Boston  respecting  the  violations  of  the  embargo; 
they  are  now  enclosed.  I  have  not  heard  whether  the  Navy 
Department  had,  after  receiving  General  Dearborn's  and  my 
letter,  made  any  arrangements  to  send  cruising  vessels  and 
gunboats  to  the  northward. 

The  enclosed  letter  from  Mr.  Woolsey  gives  a  better  account 


1  See  the  reply  to  this  letter  in  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  336,  dated  August 
11,  1808. 


400  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

of  the  violations  along  our  northern  line  than  we  had  yet 
received;  and  it  is  important  in  other  respects,  particularly  as 
relates  to  the  force  at  Montreal  and  vicinity. 

Colonel  Wynne  complains,  in  his  enclosed  letter,  of  what  is 
in  fact  the  result  of  Collector  TredwelPs  strictness  in  complying 
with  instructions.  I  have  always  feared  that  North  Carolina 
would  be  shaken  by  the  embargo;  and  the  nature  of  their  car 
goes,  all  suspicious  articles  (provisions,  naval  stores,  and  lumber), 
renders  the  general  measures  adopted  to  prevent  frauds  more 
oppressive  than  elsewhere.  Yet  how  to  discriminate  I  do  not 
know. 

I  have  complied  with  your  directions  respecting  the  Chinese, 
and  he  has  engaged  Astor's  vessel,  to  whom  we  had  on  general 
grounds  refused  permission.  Had  I  had  any  discretion  as  to 
the  application  itself,  I  would  have  hesitated;  for  I  apprehend 
that  there  is  some  speculation  at  bottom,  and  every  deviation 
from  the  general  rules  is  considered  as  favoritism  and  excites 
dissatisfaction. 

On  the  Spanish  business  it  may  be  premature  to  form  conjec 
tures  in  its  relations  with  ourselves  and  with  its  probable  effect 
on  the  conduct  of  the  belligerent  powers.  I  think,  however, 
that  we  may  take  it  for  granted  that  the  colonies  will,  under 
any  possible  result  in  Spain,  be  in  alliance  with  England  and 
at  war  with  France  during  the  remainder  of  the  maritime  war. 
Judging  of  the  feelings  of  our  nation  by  our  own,  we  may  also 
safely  infer  that  the  cause  of  a  nation  trying  to  assert  its  independ 
ence  will  be  popular  in  the  United  States,  and  that  France  will 
in  proportion  become  still  more  unpopular.  There  is  one  point 
to  which  perhaps  immediate  attention  should  be  paid.  It  is 
possible  that  in  the  course  of  events  it  may  very  soon  become 
indispensable,  to  prevent  a  greater  evil,  that  we  should  occupy 
at  least  that  part  of  Florida  which  we  had  claimed,  viz.,  Baton 
Kouge  and  Mobile;  and  we  ought,  I  think,  to  be  ready  on  the 
spot  for  such  a  contingency,  which,  if  it  takes  place,  will  probably 
leave  no  room  for  delay.1 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

1  See  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  336. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  401 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 


YORK,  August  6,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  have  received  yours  of  29th  ult.,1  and  will  ex 
amine  the  question  of  increasing  the  bond.  I  will  only  observe 
that  I  would  have  thought  an  order  to  the  collectors  to  limit  the 
cargoes  of  provisions  to  one-eighth  of  the  bond  illegal,  and  that  I 
only  wrote  to  them  that  when  they  did  not  exceed  that  proportion 
I  did  not  perceive  that  there  could  be  any  ground  of  suspicion. 
This  was  written  as  a  modification  of  the  letter  of  May,  accom 
panying  copies  of  yours  to  the  governors,  and  which  was  con 
strued  so  as  to  prevent  the  exportation  of  provisions  in  all  cases 
where  the  governor's  certificate  was  not  obtained.  I  would  have 
preferred  not  to  have  written  at  all  to  the  governors,  and  to 
have  left  the  coasting  trade  on  the  footing  of  my  first  circular  of 
29th  April,  which  you  thought  not  strict  enough.  It  is,  how 
ever,  certain  that,  with  the  exception  of  Governor  Sullivan's 
certificates,  the  mode  which  you  directed  has  been  perfectly 
efficacious  on  the  sea-coast.  No  evasions  can  now  take  place 
worthy  of  notice  under  color  of  the  coasting  trade.  The  em 
bargo  is  now  defeated,  as  I  have  already  mentioned,  by  open 
violations,  by  vessels  sailing  without  any  clearances  whatever  ; 
an  evil  which,  under  the  existing  law,  we  cannot  oppose  in  any 
way  but  by  cruisers. 

I  have  this  day  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Smith  mentioning 
that  he  had  given  the  necessary  orders  to  that  eifect. 

A  new  attempt  is  also  made  to  prevent  detention  through  the 
medium  of  State  courts,  which  you  will  find  stated  in  the  en 
closed  letter  from  the  collector  of  Newport.  I  have  in  my  an 
swer  directed  him  to  pay  no  obedience  to  such  efforts  to  defeat 
the  law,  as  the  State  courts  have  no  shadow  of  jurisdiction  in 
such  cases.  Still,  this  increases  our  difficulties,  and  I  deeply 
regret  to  see  my  incessant  efforts  in  every  direction  to  carry  the 
law  into  effect  defeated  in  so  many  quarters,  and  that  we  will 
probably  produce,  at  least  on  the  British,  but  an  inconsiderable 


1  See  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  327,  letter  of  July  29,  1808. 
VOL.  i.— 27 


402  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

effect  by  a  measure  which  at  the  same  time  threatens  to  destroy 
the  Republican  interest.  For  there  is  almost  an  equal  chance 
that  if  propositions  from  Great  Britain  or  other  events  do  not 
put  it  in  our  power  to  raise  the  embargo  before  the  1st  of  Octo 
ber,  we  will  lose  the  Presidential  election.  I  think  that  at  this 
moment  the  Western  States,  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  per 
haps  Georgia,  are  the  only  sound  States,  and  that  we  will  have 
a  doubtful  contest  in  every  other.  The  consciousness  of  having 
done  what  was  right  in  itself  is  doubtless  sufficient,  but  for  the 
inefficacy  of  the  measure  on  the  Lakes  and  to  the  northward 
there  is  no  consolation ;  and  that  circumstance  is  the  strongest 
argument  that  can  be  brought  against  the  measure  itself. 

The  death  of  General  Shee  brings  on  you  another  difficulty, 
which  the  critical  situation  of  Pennsylvania  will  not  tend  to 
lessen.  Yet  on  that  ground  I  will  not,  nor  can  I,  give  any 
opinion. 

For  it  is,  I  believe/  morally  impossible  to  make  an  appoint 
ment  that  will  not  displease  some  section  of  the  Republicans, 
and  of  course  do  some  injury  to  the  Republican  interest.  I  am 
independent  of  any  considerations  of  that  kind  in  favor  of  Cap 
tain  Jones,  because,  frqni  his  pursuits  in  life  and  personal  char 
acter,  I  am  confident  that  he  is  the  best  qualified.  Any  other 
man  who  has  a  chance  for  the  appointment  will,  as  his  prede 
cessors,  be  the  deputy  of  his  deputy.  But  this  subject  is,  un 
fortunately,  at  this  time  so  connected  with  the  existence  of  the 
Republican  party  in  Pennsylvania,  that  I  think  it  will  be  best 
not  to  be  too  hasty  in  filling  -the  place.  The  deputy,  Graff,  will 
do  very  well  till  you  have  full  time  to  investigate. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 


NEW  YORK,  August  9,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — Governor  Tompkins  transmits  to  you  a  letter 
from  Oswego,  announcing  an  insurrection  there.  The  partic 
ulars  I  know  not,  as,  if  the  collector  has  written,  his  letter  has 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  403 

gone  to  Washington.  The  accounts  are,  I  presume,  somewhat 
exaggerated;  and  there  is  no  more  insurrection  than  has  been 
on  Lake  Champlain  or  Passamaquoddy ;  but  certainly  a  forcible 
violation  of  the  embargo  by  such  combination  as  prevents  the 
execution  of  the  law  and  would  justify  the  calling  of  militia. 
I  had  a  long  conference  with  the  governor,  and  stated  your  re 
luctance  to  issue  another  proclamation  declaring  a  part  of  this 
State  in  a  state  of  insurrection.  He  felt  the  force  of  the  ob 
servation,  and  declared  his  willingness  to  do  whatever  he  could 
legally  and  properly  do. 

I  assured  him  that  if  he  called  any  militia  on  this  occasion 
on  his  own  authority  the  expense  would  be  defrayed  by  the 
United  States ;  and  I  think  that  it  will  be  necessary  that  you 
should  give  him  assurances  to  the  same  effect.  He  proposes — 
and  this  would  be  the  most  effectual  mode — to  go  himself,  as  soon 
as  he  has  received  an  answer  from  General  Dearborn  respect 
ing  the  fortifications  and  obstructions  here,  to  Oswego,  Sacket's 
Harbor,  and  Champlain.  For  he  observes  that  the  militia  offi 
cers,  if  selected  at  random,  may  be  imprudent  or  disaffected. 
Whether  you  request  him  to  act  on  his  own  authority,  or  issue 
a  proclamation  and  make  a  formal  requisition  of  militia,  the 
number  may  probably  be  left  to  his  discretion,  not  exceeding 
five  hundred  men  in  all.  In  that  case  I  think  that  one  com 
pany  at  each  of  the  following  places,  Genesee,  Oswego,  Sacket's 
Harbor,  Oswegatchie,  Lake  Champlain,  and  the  residue  between 
the  two  last-mentioned  places,  to  guard  the  land  roads  and  the 
crossing-places  of  St.  Lawrence  below  the  Oswegatchie,  will 
form  a  proper  distribution. 

Information  of  violations  along  the  sea-shore  of  Massachu 
setts  continues  to  be  received  daily.  The  Wasp,  Argus,  and 
Chesapeake  have  been  ordered  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  in 
that  quarter.  To  that  force  Commodore  Rogers  has  promised 
to  join  the  Revenge ;  but  I  have  not  been  able  to  obtain  more 
than  three  gunboats,  which  is  inadequate.  I  have  requested 
they  might  be  sent  to  Newport,  New  Bedford,  and  Barnstable, 
and  that  the  Revenge  should  cruise  about  the  Vineyard,  and 
between  Nantucket  and  Cape  Cod ;  the  three  large  vessels,  par 
ticularly  the  Wasp  and  Argus,  to  cruise  from  Cape  Cod  to 


404  "WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

Portland,  and  occasionally  eastwardly.  This,  with  the  revenue 
cutters,  is  all  we  can  do,  and  of  course  we  must  remain  satis 
fied  with  the  result,  whatever  it  may  be.  To  our  other  diffi 
culties  there  must  be  added  that  the  district  attorney — Blake — 
does  not  seem  zealous,  or  even  active,  and  that  we  will  not 
recover  many  penalties.  I  will  write  to  him  to-day,  though  it 
is  not  precisely  in  my  line,  and  he  has  not  answered  a  former 
letter.  We  have  also  a  bad  collector — Pease — at  Edgartown 
on  Matthias  Vineyard,  the  largest  island  between  Nantucket 
and  Cape  Cod.  Is  not  a  Mr.  Green  the  representative  for  that 
district  ?  If  you  know  his  residence,  I  will  write  to  him  re 
specting  a  successor.  I  presume  it  must  be  at  Barnstable.  It 
is  also  reported  that  in  that  quarter  fishing  vessels  and  vessels 
permitted  to  go  in  ballast  abuse  their  privileges,  and  carry  pro 
visions  to  the  West  Indies. 

I  have  as  yet,  to  all  applications  to  send  vessels  to  Europe, 
Africa,  and  Asia,  given  the  uniform  answer  that  the  President 
had  determined  not  to  grant  any  permissions,  except  for  the 
West  Indies :  this  makes  the  Chinese  permission  inconvenient. 
And  I  enclose  for  your  decision  one  from  the  insurance  com 
panies  of  Philadelphia  for  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  which  I  do  not 
wish,  any  more  than  that  of  Coquerel  for  Isle  of  France,  to  be 
granted,  and  which  indeed  stands  on  no  better  foundation  than 
individual  applications.  But  the  permission  allowed  to  Punga 
Wingchong  makes  individuals  desirous  of  a  direct  reference  to 
yourself. 

I  found  in  my  conversation  with  Governor  Tompkins  that 
no  order  had  issued  from  the  War  Department  for  renewing 
the  detachment  of  100,000  militia  under  last  year's  law.  So 
that  in  case  of  emergency  we  have  not  one  man  besides  the 
regulars  in  readiness.  Although  out  of  my  proper  business,  I 
cannot  help  saying  that  under  the  circumstances  of  the  country 
that  omission  appears  wrong,  and  that  orders  to  that  effect 
ought  immediately  to  be  issued  by  the  War  Department  to 
every  State,  in  order  to  have  the  men  in  readiness  if  wanted. 

I  have  inquired  also  why  the  delay  had  taken  place  in  making 
the  cession  of  ground  for  obstructions.  The  governor  tells  me 
that  that  will  be  done  the  instant  that  General  Dearborn  will 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  405 

have  specified  where  he  wants  it,  which  he  has  not  yet  done. 
But  you  may  rely  upon  it  that  General  Dearborn  has  pointed 
out  a  place  where  from  the  depth  (96  feet)  a  plan  of  obstructions 
is  altogether  impracticable.  The  shallowest  part  of  the  channel 
is  the  only  part  where  it  can  be  done.  I  have  told  General 
Dearborn  where  that  was,  having  had  the  soundings  correctly 
taken  last  year;  but  he  is  bent  to  the  line  between  his  forts, 
and  the  consequence  is,  clearly,  that  nothing  will  be  done.1 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 


YORK,  August  17,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  I  return  Lowry's  papers.  I  do  not  exactly 
recollect  what  had  passed  on  the  subject,  and  only  remember 
that  there  was  a  statement  of  facts  obtained  from  the  district 
attorney,  in  which  the  species  and  degree  of  resistance  to  the 
deputy  marshal  were  represented  as  greater  than  is  done  by 
themselves  and  Mr.  Smith.  In  every  other  respect  the  repre 
sentation  of  Mr.  Smith  is,  I  think,  correct.  The  conduct  of 
the  land  companies  has  uniformly  been  contrary  to  the  intention 
and  spirit  of  the  law  ;  and  I  think  the  decree  of  the  Supreme 
Court  radically  wrong,  and  to  have  worked  a  great  and  exten 
sive  injury.  It  is  true  that  nothing  can  justify  resistance  to 
law.  In  this  instance,  however,  the  parties  having  suffered  a 
longer  imprisonment  than  was  decreed  by  the  court  for  their 
offence,  and  being  now  detained  merely  on  account  of  their 
poverty,  which  prevents  their  paying  the  fine,  the  case  may 
be  proper  for  the  exercise  of  a  pardon  remitting  only  that  fine. 
I  would  speak  more  decisively  if  I  had  the  former  papers 
before  me. 

The  enclosed  application  of  Smissaert,  a  Batavian  consul, 
to  export  to  Batavia  certain  copper  coins  called  dutes,  necessary 
in  the  intercourse  with  the  natives  of  Java,  had  been  refused 

1  See  reply  to  this  letter  in  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  344,  dated  August  15. 


406  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

verbally  in  Washington  last  winter,  and  is  now  renewed,  with  a 
request  to  be  laid  before  you,  principally,  I  believe,  in  order  to 
show  to  his  government  that  he  has  done  all  he  could  to  obtain 
a  permission. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  the  collector  of  Gloucester  (Cape  Ann, 
Massachusetts),  together  with  copies  of  my  answer  and.  of  a 
letter  to  the  district  attorney,  on  the  subject  of  forcible  oppo 
sition  to  the  embargo.  Be  pleased  to  return  both  the  letter 
and  copies.  I  am  verbally  informed  this  morning  that  still 
more  gross  proceedings  have  taken  place  at  Newburyport, — a 
vessel  having  sailed  by  force  under  the  protection  of  a  large 
armed  mob  assembled  on  the  wharf,  and  who  prevented  the 
interference  of  the  custom-house  officers.  The  Argus  and 
Wasp  will  sail  this  week  for  that  coast;  the  Revenge  is  off 
Nantucket  and  Matthias  Vineyard ;  the  Chesapeake  off  Block 
Island,  whence  she  has  already  sent  eight  vessels  in.  But  I 
could  only  get  four  gunboats,  one  of  which  is  stationed  at  New 
port,  one  at  New  Bedford,  one  south  of  the  Barnstable  or  Cape 
Cod  Peninsula,  and  the  other  will  go  north  of  the  same  penin 
sula,  between  Barnstable  Bay  and  Plymouth.  Beyond  that  we 
have  no  stationary  force  but  the  two  revenue  cutters  of  Boston 
and  Portsmouth,  and  the  two  Passamaquoddy  gunboats.  If  the 
Argus  and  Wasp  do  not  check  the  illegal  sailing  of  vessels  from 
that  coast,  and  the  law  proceedings  are  impotent,  we  will  be 
placed  in  an  awkward  situation,  for  we  cannot  much  rely  on 
Governor  Sullivan's  exertions. 

The  opposition  at  Oswego-  has  broken  into  insurrection,  as 
you  will  perceive  by  the  enclosed  letter  from  the  collector  and 
those  you  will  receive  from  the  governor,  who  has  agreed  to 
send  one  or  two  companies  of  militia,  under  one  of  his  aids,  to 
be  stationed  in  that  district.  I  have  assured  him  that  the  ex 
pense  would  be  defrayed  by  the  United  States,  although  the 
militia  were  called  by  the  State  authority,  inasmuch  as  it  was 
at  our  request  and  to  avoid  the  proclamation,  &c.,  that  it  was 
done.  But  I  do  not  know  how  to  arrange  the  details,  which 
belong  entirely  to  the  War  Department.  General  Dearborn 
has  referred  me  for  orders  to  the  recruiting- parties  to  General 
Wilkinson,  to  whom  I  feel  some  delicacy  to  give  what  he  may 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  407 

consider  as  improper  interference.  I  think,  therefore,  that  in 
addition  to  what  I  have  written,  and  may  again  write,  to  General 
Dearborn,  it  will  be  necessary  that  you  should,  1,  repeat  to  Gov 
ernor  Tompkins  the  assurance  that  the  expense  of  the  militia 
which  he  has  called,  or  may,  according  to  circumstances,  think 
necessary  to  call,  on  the  Lakes,  will  be  defrayed  by  the  general 
government ;  2,  direct  the  War  Department  to  make  the  neces 
sary  arrangements  for  the  regular  payment  and  supply  of  pro 
visions  for  such  militia;  and,  3,  direct  General  Wilkinson  to 
order  immediately  all  the  recruits  in  the  State  of  New  York, 
including  those  in  the  city,  to  repair,  about  J  to  Sacket's  Harbor, 
on  Lake  Ontario ;  J  to  Oswegatchie,  on  St.  Lawrence ;  and  J  to 
Plattsburg,  on  Lake  Champlain ;  in  order  to  assist  the  collectors 
in  keeping  possession  of  deposits  of  provisions,  potash,  &c.,  and 
in  detaining  vessels  and  boats  sailing  forcibly.  This  is  all  that 
strikes  me  at  this  moment  as  necessary  and  within  our  power, 
and  I  wish  you  to  write  to  those  three  persons — the  governor, 
General  Dearborn,  and  General  Wilkinson — only  because  your 
letters  will  produce  more  effect  than  mine  would. 

Application  was  made  for  leave  to  transport  immediately  the 
North  Carolina  wheat,  on  which  I  wrote  a  circular,  in  which  I 
have  added  some  relaxations  which  the  situation  of  that  State 
seemed  to  require.  A  copy  of  that  and  of  sundry  letters  re 
specting  the  Chinese  (who  has  sailed)  will  be  sent  to  you  from 
Washington.1 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


MADISON  TO   GALLATIN. 


,  August  19,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  The  last  mail  brought  me  yours  of  the  9th 
instant.  Not  having  at  hand  the  regular  sources  of  information 
on  the  point  to  which  it  refers,  I  can  speak  from  memory  only. 
The  law  of  nations  leaves  neutrals  free  to  allow  or  refuse  the 

1  See  reply  in  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  355,  dated  August  26,  1808. 


408  WEITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

sale  of  prizes,  provided  the  same  rule  be  applied  to  all  the  bel 
ligerents.  The  questions,  therefore,  are  what  the  municipal  law 
here  has  decided,  and  how  far  an  Executive  decision  would  be 
competent;  it  being  understood  that  treaties  furnish  no  decision. 
The  municipal  law,  it  seems,  has  made  no  provision  for  such  a 
case.  The  Executive  authority  does  not  extend  to  a  restriction, 
nor  even  to  a  definition  of  the  law  of  nations.  It  follows  that  a 
remedy  against  the  sale  of  prizes  at  N.  O.  can  be  supplied  by  Con 
gress  alone.  Still,  if  there  be  any  article  in  any  treaty  or  any 
law  requiring  a  prohibition  of  such  sales  to  any  one  belligerent, 
or  if  there  be  any  valid  regulation  to  that  effect  actually  in  force, 
it  would  be  within  the  exercise  at  least  of  Executive  authority  to 
extend  the  prohibition  to  all  other  belligerents,  on  the  principle, 
I  presume,  that  the  law  of  impartiality  authorized  in  the  Execu 
tive  what  the  duty  of  neutrality  imposed  on  the  nation,  I  do 
not  recollect  precisely  what  is  contained  in  the  French  conven 
tion  on  this  point,  and  therefore  can  make  no  inference  from  it. 
But  it  runs  in  my  head  that  there  is  some  unrevoked  regulation 
applicable  generally  to  the  sale  of  prizes.  If  there  be,  it  must 
be  among  the  regulations  for  maintaining  our  neutral  obligations, 
which  were  collected  some  time  ago,  and  copies  furnished  to  the 
collectors.  If  you  have  not  already  examined  them,  it  may  be 
worth  while  to  do  so. 

The  President  has  decided,  I  see,  that  Turreau  be  permitted 
to  send  his  two  vessels  to  France  and  the  West  Indies  (but  not 
to  more  distant  seas)  filled  with  French  subjects  who  were  here 
at  the  time  of  the  embargo.  You  will,  I  presume,  have  taken 
measures  accordingly.  But,  as  it  may  avoid  further  delay  in 
a  case  where  it  is  already  complained  of,  I  shall  desire  Mr. 
Graham  to  let  the  President's  determination  be  known  at  the 
Treasury,  in  order  that  any  provisional  arrangements  made  by 
you  may  be  expedited. 

Not  a  word  has  been  received  from  Armstrong  since  we  left 
Washington.  I  have  a  few  lines  from  Pinkney,  coming  down  to 
the  9th  June,  which  amount  to  nothing  more  than  that  he  was 
in  a  few  days  to  have  an  interview  with  Canning,  in  which  he 
should  press  as  from  himself,  and  on  general  grounds,  a  repeal 
of  the  orders,  &c.,  &c.  As  the  interview  was  presumably  of  his 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  409 

own  seeking,  and  as  the  arrival  of  the  St.  Michael  at  L'Orient 
on  her  way  to  England  was  known,  and  would  furnish,  as  the 
Osage  did,  a  good  dilatory  plea,  the  interview  does  not  promise 
much;  and  the  less  as  the  torpor  to  our  affairs  will  be  increased 
by  the  animation  and  hopes  excited  by  those  of  Spain.  If  these 
should  become  very  flattering,  it  will  be  in  the  character  of  the 
present  Cabinet  to  raise  its  tone  rather  than  to  revise  its  errors. 

I  have  just  received  a  petition  to  the  President  from  merchants 
in  Boston  for  a  removal  of  the  embargo,  or  a  call  of  Congress 
for  the  purpose;  and  I  see  that  another  is  on  foot,  founded  on 
the  additional  market  opened  in  Spain  and  expected  in  Portugal. 
Such  are  the  malignant  manoeuvres  for  vexing  the  Executive. 
No  efforts  of  the  President  could  now  assemble  Congress  ten 
days  sooner  than  the  time  to  which  they  are  adjourned.  And 
to  acknowledge  the  new  and  local  power  set  up  in  Spain,  and 
thereby  take  part  in  the  war  against  the  others,  would  be  an 
infatuation  which  the  most  stupid  or  the  most  wicked  only  could 
suggest. 

Our  crops  of  wheat  are  but  tolerable.  The  corn-fields  promise 
the  most  luxuriant  crops.  The  crops  of  tobacco  will  not  be  great, 
and  may  be  short. 

Very  sincerely,  your  friend  and  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 


HAVEN,  August  23,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  There  is  one  application  which  I  had  referred 
to  you,  and  to  which  you  have  given  no  answer.  It  is  that  of 
one  Coquerel,  to  go  to  Isle  of  France;  the  vessel's  name  is 
either  Calypso  or  Mentor.  He  had  prepared  his  vessel  under 
an  alleged  verbal  permission  of  the  collector.  Both  he  and  his 
captain  have  repeatedly  called  for  an  answer. 

The  War  Department,  in  General  Dearborn's  absence,  sus 
pends  the  accounts  of  some  New  York  militia  called  on  the  spur 
of  the  occasion  to  enforce  the  embargo  on  Lake  Champlain  with 
out  a  previous  demand  for  them  by  the  general  government. 


410  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

You  afterwards  sanctioned  the  measure,  and  directed  me  to  tes 
tify  your  approbation  to  Captain  Mayo,  who  had  thus  turned 
out  without  waiting  legal  orders.  This  suspension  may  dis 
courage  the  well-affected,  and  renders  it  necessary  that  General 
Dearborn  should  give  orders  on  that  subject,  and  on  that  of  sub 
sequent  calls  of  militia  by  Governor  Tompkins,  to  his  principal 
clerk  and  to  the  accountant.  I  enclose  a  letter  from  the  col 
lector  of  Niagara,  who  still  mistakes  the  law,  as  the  boats  could 
not  be  seized  under  any  of  the  embargo  laws.  A  copy  of  my 
answer  will  be  sent  from  my  office  to  you.  But  it  is  evident 
that  there  has  been  an  habitual  disregard  of  our  general  laws  by 
the  British  traders,  and  that  they  claim,  by  virtue  of  the  treaty, 
which  only  secures  the  free  navigation  of  the  Lakes,  a  right  to 
enter  all  our  ports  there  without  reporting  or  fulfilling  any  other 
formality. 

If  this  was  admitted,  they  might  smuggle  as  they  please,  and 
break  with  perfect  facility  every  non-importation  law. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 

I  am  here  only  for  one  day,  and  return  to-morrow  to  New 
York. 


MADISON  TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIER,  August  31,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — Having  communicated  the  enclosed  letter  from 
General  T.  to  the  President,  he  concurred  in  the  propriety  of 
asking  from  you  the  information  on  which  an  answer  ought  to  be 
founded.  I  understand  from  the  President  that  he  has  explained 
to  you  the  principles  regulating  the  indulgence  allowable  to  these 
diplomatic  applications.  He  will  acquiesce,  however,  in  giving 
effect  to  any  misconceived  permission  under  which  expense  may 
have  been  incurred,  provided  it  be  not  essentially  inadmissible. 
I  am  sorry  for  the  trouble  in  which  you  are  involved  by  these 
cases,  but  I  can  the  less  avoid  giving  it,  as  my  memory  does 
not  supply  the  circumstances  which  I  might  command  at  Wash 
ington. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  411 

I  have  a  letter  from  Mr.  Pinkney  of  June  22.  His  expected 
interview  with  Mr.  C.  had  not  even  then  taken  place;  after 
hearing  the  arrival  of  the  St.  Michael  at  L/Orient  he  seems  to 
have  been  willing  to  be  first  possessed  of  the  information  con 
veyed  by  her,  in  order  to  be  on  even  ground  with  Canning,  who 
had  received  Erskine's  communications  as  well  by  her  as  by  the 
May  packet.  He  says  little  on  general  subjects,  and  nothing 
that  denotes  relaxations  on  the  part  of  the  British  government, 
which  indeed  was  too  much  occupied  and  elated  with  the  occur 
rences  in  Spain  to  think  of  American  affairs.  He  enclosed  a 
copy  of  Rose's  bill,  conformable  to  his  motion,  in  the  newspapers. 
It  takes  the  place  of  the  expired  Act,  carrying  the  treaty  of  1794 
into  execution;  consequently  leaves  the  East  Indian  trade  subject 
to  restrictions,  which  will,  I  suspect,  be  imposed,  experimentally 
and  politically  at  least. 

What  does  Canning  mean  by  declaring  that  no  communication 
whatever  had  been  received  from  this  government  subsequent  to 
the  return  of  Mr.  R.  ?  Does  he  really  mean  to  make  the  public 
there  believe  that  we  are  satisfied,  and  here  that  we  have  been 
neglectful  or  invidious?  Or  does  he  consider  nothing  worth  the 
name  of  communication  but  concessions  or  overtures  from  this 
country?  How  are  we  to  understand  also  his  assertion  that 
several  special  messengers  had  arrived  after  touching  at  L'Orient, 
when  in  fact  one  only  (by  the  Osage)  had  arrived,  and  who, 
having  left  the  United  States  in  February,  during  the  nego 
tiations  with  Rose,  and  after  Erskine's  communication,  official 
though  verbal,  of  the  orders  in  council,  could  not  be  expected 
to  be  the  bearer  of  more  than  explanatory  communications  to 
Mr.  Pinkney  ?  It  is  a  fact,  however,  that  Mr.  P.  on  receiving 
his  despatches  glanced  at  the  orders,  and  declined  following  up 
the  subject,  because  he  found  no  good  could  result  from  it. 
Canning  also  must  have  received  by  that  conveyance,  or  prob 
ably  by  a  preceding  packet,  the  official,  though  verbal,  remon 
strance  to  Mr.  Erskine  against  the  orders  in  council,  which  I 
repeated  to  him  at  his  own  request,  for  the  purpose  avowed  by 
him,  of  transmitting  it  to  his  government.  After  all,  if  com 
munications,  &c.,  had  been  received  prior  to  Mr.  R.'s  return,  as 
seems  to  be  implied,  or  at  least  is  not  denied,  how  could  a  fail- 


412  WKITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

ure  to  repeat  them,  when  no  answer  had  been  returned,  be  con 
strued  into  the  inferences  of  Mr.  C.  ?  There  is  the  more  attention 
due  to  this  part  of  Canning's  speech,  as  it  appears  in  several 
editions  of  it  in  English  gazettes  to  be  substantially  if  not  ver 
batim  the  same.  Pinkney  inculcates  a  firm  adherence  to  the 
Non-Importation  Act,  the  President's  proclamation  of  July, 
1807,  and  the  embargo. 

With  respect  to  this  last  measure,  the  public  mind  in  this 
quarter  appears  to  be  unshaken.  You  can  judge  better  of  its 
state  northwardly.  The  Federal  papers,  I  observe,  form  the 
most  sanguine  calculations. 

The  month  of  August  has  borne  hard  on  the  crops  of  corn  and 
tobacco,  being  both  dry  and  cold ;  and  I  learn  that  they  were 
generally  less  promising  than  in  this  particular  district.    Beyond 
the  mountains  the  crops  of  corn  will  be  very  scanty  indeed. 
Yours  very  sincerely  and  respectfully. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  September  2,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  you  the  cases  of  Thorndike,  of  Massa 
chusetts,  and  Barney,  of  Rhode  Island,  received  by  yesterday's 
post,  which  appearing  to  have  nothing  taking  them  out  of  the 
common  rule,  you  will  be  pleased  to  dispose  of  them  according 
to  that.  Thorndike's  ground  is  that  he  was  out  of  the  State  of 
Massachusetts  during  the  whole  time  permits  were  allowed.  If 
he  had  been  out  of  the  United  States,  the  case  would  have  merited 
consideration  ;  but  the  knowledge  of  the  law,  and  of  the  permis 
sions  under  it,  must  be  presumed  to  be  known  through  all  the 
United  States.  Should  we  conclude  to  permit  vessels  to  go  for 
salt?  this  must  depend  on  the  quantity  on  hand,  of  which,  in 
your  position,  you  can  judge  best.  If  we  are  to  do  it,  Barney's 
may  begin  the  business  on  that  principle ;  but  not  on  the  one 
he  alleges,  of  the  late  receipt  of  a  letter.  I  propose  to  be  at 
Washington  on  the  1st  of  October.  The  newspapers  tell  us 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  413 

of  despatches  from  Mr.  Pinkney ;   but  Mr.  Madison  had  not 
received  them  the  day  before  yesterday.    Affectionate  salutations. 

P.S. — I  appoint  Eugene  Sullivan  at  West  Point.  Rose  turns 
out  to  be  a  great  sot.  In  a  letter  of  August  15,  General  Dear 
born  says,  "  From  the  report  made  by  the  best-informed  block- 
builders  at  New  York,  the  expense,  as  estimated,  would  amount 
to  almost  one  million  of  dollars,  and  I  have  been  obliged  to  post 
pone  the  erection  of  the  line  of  blocks  and  chains  for  further 
consideration/'  This  mortifies  me  extremely ;  for,  although  I 
should  be  for  allowing  the  million,  our  appropriation  will  not 
bear  it,  and  we  ought  not  to  begin  a  thing  which  will  go  beyond 
that  without  consulting  Congress.  It  was  my  hope  to  have  left 
all  the  seaport  towns  in  a  state  of  defence;  but  this,  and  our 
unfortunate  disappointments  at  New  Orleans,  will  leave  these 
two  important  places  unfinished. 


GALLATTN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  September  2,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — Yours  of  26th  ult.  was  received  yesterday, 
together  with  that  of  Mr.  Madison,  advising  that  a  vessel  must 
be  despatched  from  Philadelphia  for  France  and  England; 
which  will  be  attended  to,  only  making  her  to  sail  on  20th 
instead  of  15th  inst.,  in  order  to  give  full  time  and  avoid  the 
expense  of  demurrage. 

My  circular  of  1st  August,  precluding  the  departure  of  ves 
sels  after  the  16th,  did  not  reach  Charleston  till  the  17th.  Four 
owners  of  vessels  who  had  obtained  permission  and  were  ready 
to  sail,  having  been  detained  in  port  by  the  collectors  in  con 
formity  with  the  circulars,  have  petitioned  for  leave  to  go,  as 
they  had  not  been  notified  of  the  limitation.  The  enclosed  letter 
to  Mr.  Theus  contains  the  petitions  and  my  answer. 

Although  I  did  not  feel  authorized  to  grant  the  request,  their 
case  is  hard,  and  I  have  therefore  transmitted  the  letter  to  you, 
in  order  that  you  may  decide.  Will  you  have  the  goodness,  in 


414  W  KIT  INGS     OF     GALL  AT  IN.  1808. 

order  to  prevent  delays,  to  endorse  on  the  petitions  or  otherwise 
enclose  in  the  letter  to  Mr.  Theus  your  determination,  and  then 
to  seal  and  forward  the  letter,  only  letting  me  know  your  de 
cision?  I  enclose  you  also  a  letter  from  Mr.  Gray,  whose 
respectability  and  meritorious  conduct  you  know,  for  leave  to 
send  a  vessel  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope :  if  granted,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  extend  the  same  privilege  to  the  insurance  com 
panies  of  Philadelphia,  whose  application,  through  Mr.  Fitz- 
simons,  for  a  similar  object,  we  lately  rejected;  the  copy  of 
my  letter  to  the  collectors  of  North  Carolina,  which,  through 
mistake,  was  sent  from  my  office  to  me  instead  of  being  sent 
to  you;  an  application  for  licensing  a  regular  packet  between 
Vermont  and  St.  John's,  in  Canada;  a  request  from  the 
Western  traders  at  New  Orleans  that  no  Atlantic  flour  be 
permitted  to  go  there. 

The  opposition  continues  in  Massachusetts,  and  is  encouraged 
by  the  petitions  to  repeal  the  embargo.  I  receive  and  answer 
daily  letters  on  that  subject,  with  which  I  do  not  trouble  you, 
as  they  contain  only  details  of  a  similar  nature  with  those 
already  known  to  you.  I  will  only  state  that  I  fear  that  there 
has  been  a  laxity  on  the  part  of  the  district  attorney,  Mr.  Blake. 
He  is  often  absent,  has  answered  none  of  my  letters,  and  I  have 
been  obliged  to  authorize  the  collectors,  in  several  instances,  to 
employ  other  counsel.  With  the  result  of  our  late  measures  to 
enforce  the  laws  on  the  Lakes  we  are  not  yet  acquainted.  We 
have  a  new  collector  at  Sacket's  Harbor,  and  it  will  perhaps 
also  be  necessary,  after  investigation,  to  make  a  change  in  the 
district  of  Oswego.  In  every  other  quarter  the  law  is  now 
carried  into  effect  with  as  few  evasions  as  could  be  expected. 
On  the  general  scale  of  politics  we  are  certainly  gaining  ground 
in  Pennsylvania.  I  have  heard  nothing  for  or  against  the  ap 
pointment  of  collector.  The  feeling  in  favor  of  Spain  is  very 
general,  and  the  observations  of  the  Washington  papers  on  that 
subject  generally  disapproved.  Until  the  circumstances  and 
probable  result  were  better  ascertained,  they  ought  to  have  con 
fined  themselves  to  a  bare  recital  of  the  news. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  415 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  September  8,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  the  following  papers : 

1.  Application  to  Havana,  at  particular  request  of  the  par 
ties. 

2.  A  letter  from  Soderstrom.     Shall  the  collectors  of  Balti 
more  be  directed  to  give  him  the  certificates  he  requires  ?     The 
object  is  to  subject  to  penalties  Swedish  or  Americo-Swedish 
subjects  trading  to  this  country  contrary  to  certain  regulations 
of  the  Swedish  government,  and  to  enforce  on  those  subjects 
here  the  authority  claimed  over  them  by  Soderstrom.     His  un 
answered  letter  of  July,  I  sent  long  ago  to  Mr.  Rodney  for  his 
opinion,  with  a  request  to  transmit  both  to  you.    Your  decision 
has  never  been  received. 

3.  Recommendations  for  office  of  receiver  at  Steubenville. 
The  question  seems  to  lie  between  Wilson  and  Dickenson.     I 
do  not  recollect  whether  you  have  filled  the  place   of  com 
missioner  of  loans  in  Georgia  vacant  by  the  death  of  Alger, 
deceased  near  three  months  ago. 

I  have  given  the  directions  for  the  vessel  intended  to  go  to 
Europe.  But  I  think  she  might  have  been  delayed  till  we  had 
received  answers  to  the  proposals  sent  by  the  St.  Michael.  Till 
then  we  do  not  know  precisely  the  ground  to  be  taken  in  Russia. 
You  know  that  my  opinion  was  contrary  to  the  mission  there 
during  the  recess  of  the  Senate,  and  our  critical  and  doubtful 
situation  at  home  does  not  seem  to  recommend  at  this  time 
an  appointment  which  must  necessarily  be  unpopular.  Last 
accounts  from  the  collector  of  Champlain  have  induced  me  to 
request  the  Governor  of  New  York  that  he  would  send  a  com 
pany  of  militia  there. 

In  relation  to  the  embargo,  we  have  nothing  else  new  of 
importance. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


416  WRITINGS     OF     GALL  ATI  N.  1808. 


GALLATIN  TO   DAVID   THOMAS,   TREASURER  STATE   OF   NEW  YORK. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  14th  September,  1808. 

SIR, — I  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  letter  of  22d  August, 
requesting  to  know  whether  any  part  of  the  two  millions  of 
dollars  appropriated  by  the  Act  of  13th  February,  1806,  for 
defraying  any  extraordinary  expenses  attending  the  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations,  had  been  drawn  from  the  Treasury,  and 
if  thus  drawn,  to  what  purpose  the  money  had  been  applied. 
Official  documents,  already  published  by  order  of  Congress, 
sufficiently  show  that  not  a  single  cent  of  that  money  has  ever 
been  expended. 

That  appropriation  was  made  in  order  to  enable  the  President 
to  acquire  Florida  by  treaty.  Messrs.  Armstrong  and  Bowdoin, 
who  were  intrusted  with  the  negotiation,  were  accordingly  au 
thorized,  if  they  should  succeed  in  making  the  purchase,  to  draw 
for  one  million  of  dollars  on  the  bankers  of  the  United  States  at 
Amsterdam,  and  for  one  million  on  the  Treasury,  as  was  stated 
to  Congress  in  the  annual  report  on  finances  of  December,  1806. 
The  negotiation  did  not  succeed :  Florida  has  not  been  pur 
chased  ;  those  gentlemen  never  drew  for  any  part  of  the  money; 
and  the  funds  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  bankers  at  Amsterdam, 
part  of  which  might  have  been  applied  to  the  purchase  if  it  had 
taken  place,  have,  according  to  their  original  destination,  been 
solely  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  Dutch  debt,  as  appears  by 
the  annual  report  of  the  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund  of 
February,  1808. 

The  evidence  of  those  facts  being  scattered  amongst  volumi 
nous  documents  of  no  very  general  circulation,  I  enclose  a  cer 
tificate  from  the  Register  of  the  Treasury,  which  will  remove 
any  doubt  on  that  subject. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  417 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 


YORK,  September  14,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR,  —  Your  letters  of  2d  and  5th  I  received  only  on 
the  12th  inst.  I  intend  leaving  this  on  the  21st,  and  expect  to 
reach  Washington  about  the  27th.  Any  letter,  therefore,  writ 
ten  subsequent  to  the  receipt  of  this  should  be  directed  to  Wash- 
ington.  If  in  the  mean  while  I  hear  of  the  arrival  of  the  St. 
Michael,  I  will  hasten  my  departure  and  travel  faster,  so  as  to 
be  ready  to  receive  any  communication  arising  from  her  return, 
or  to  meet  you  if  the  exigency  of  the  case  induces  you  to  return 
to  Washington  sooner  than  you  calculated. 

With  the  assistance  of  Governor  Tompkins  and  of  General 
Wilkinson,  militia  and  regulars  have  arrived,  or  are  now  on 
their  march  to  the  Lakes,  and  I  hope  that  by  the  1st  of  October 
everything  will  be  there  in  tolerable  order,  and  the  militia  re 
lieved  everywhere  but  in  Vermont  by  the  regulars.  Nothing 
new  or  extraordinary  from  New  England  or  any  other  quarter. 
I  find  it  difficult  to  have  the  necessary  prosecutions  instituted  in 
the  northern  parts  of  this  State.  But  the  district  attorney  of 
Maine  has,  by  going  himself  to  Passamaquoddy,  collecting  evi 
dence,  instituting  suits,  &c.,  restored  order  in  that  quarter.  I 
enclose  two  cases  for  your  decision.  Shall  vessels  which  had 
sailed  under  permission,  and  have  been  forced  to  return  by 
stress  of  weather  or  compulsion,  be  permitted  to  proceed  again  on 
their  voyages  ?  It  is  asserted,  but  not  yet  certain,  that  we  have 
lost  the  election  in  Vermont.  Of  New  Jersey  I  can  ascertain 
nothing  ;  but  it  is  a  doubtful  State.  In  Pennsylvania  we  have 
gained  ground  east  of  the  mountains,  but  rather  lost  westwardly. 
I  have  still  good  hopes  of  that  State  ;  but  should  we  lose  it  the 
fate  of  the  Presidential  election  must,  as  in  1800,  depend  on 
South  Carolina.  The  late  accounts  from  Spain  induce  a  belief 
that  the  war  there  will  be  more  similar  to  those  of  Ireland  and 
La  Vendee,  than  productive  of  serious  resistance.  But  the  colo 
nies  may  probably  stand  out. 

With  respectful  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 
VOL.  i.—  28 


418  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  September  16,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  am  again  compelled  to  address  you  on  the 
subject  of  Governor  Sullivan's  certificates,  which  he  continues, 
as  I  am  informed  from  several  quarters,  pertinaciously  to  issue. 
Whether  he  still  sends  duplicates  to  the  Treasury  I  do  not  know, 
but,  from  the  new  form  which  he  has  adopted,  rather  think  that 
he  does  not.  I  write,  however,  to  the  principal  clerk  in  my 
office  to  send  to  you  along  with  this  letter  a  memorandum  of 
the  gross  amount  of  his  permissions  so  far  as  they  have  been 
received  there.  But  of  the  effect  I  can  speak  with  certainty. 
Those  permissions  do  not  only  create  dissatisfaction  and  operate 
unequally  in  favor  of  those  who  obtain  them,  but  they  materially 
interfere  with  the  execution  of  the  embargo  laws.  As  a  proof 
that  they  are  granted  without  discretion,  and  for  districts  where 
flour  is  not  wanted,  I  enclose  a  letter  from  the  deputy  collector 
of  Barnstable,  then  at  Boston.  The  provisions  imported  into 
Massachusetts  in  large  quantities  are  intended  for  exportation, 
and  are  the  foundation  of  the  violations  of  the  embargo  there. 
The  facilities  afforded  by  the  immediate  egress  from  the  ports  of 
that  State  to  the  sea,  by  the  vicinity  of  Nova  Scotia,  and  by  the 
number  of  British  vessels  hovering  on  the  coast  for  the  purpose 
of  receiving  cargoes,  give  already  sufficient  temptations  for  viola 
tions  of  the  law. 

The  systematic  opposition  connected  with  political  views 
which  prevails  there,  renders  the  execution  of  the  embargo 
still  more  difficult,  and  the  governor's  permissions  supply  the 
objects  to  be  exported,  as  otherwise  fish  would  be  the  only 
article  that  could  be  smuggled  away.  I  think  it  really  neces 
sary  that  some  efficient  measure  should  be  adopted  to  put  an 
end  to  his  certificates,  or  to  prevent  their  being  respected  by  the 
collectors.  With  very  few  exceptions,  the  embargo  is  now  rigidly 
enforced  in  every  other  port  of  the  sea-border. 

With  great  respect  and  attachment,  your  obedient  servant. 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  419 


GALLATIN  TO  CHARLES  PINCKNEY,  GOVERNOR  OF  SOUTH  CAROLINA. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  24th  October,  1808. 

.  .  .  On  the  subject  of  the  embargo,  and  particularly  of  what 
you  should  communicate  to  the  Legislature,  I  must  refer  you  to 
the  President,  who  can  alone  judge  of  the  propriety  and  extent 
of  communications  prior  to  the  meeting  of  Congress.  As  an 
individual  (but  this  is  conjecture,  and  not  fact),  I  believe  that  the 
British  Ministry  is  either  unwilling,  if  they  can  avoid  it,  to  repeal 
their  orders  in  any  event  whatever,  or  that  they  wait  for  the 
result  of  their  intrigues  and  of  the  exertions  of  their  friends 
here,  with  hopes  of  producing  irresistible  dissatisfaction  to  the 
embargo,  and  a  change  of  measures  and  of  men.  I  trust  that 
if  this  be  their  object  they  will  be  disappointed,  and  of  the 
steadiness  and  patriotism  of  South  Carolina  I  never  entertained 
any  doubt.  On  an  alteration  in  the  measures  of  the  French 
Emperor  I  place  no  more  confidence,  perhaps  even  less,  than  on 
Great  Britain.  The  only  difference  in  his  favor,  and  it  arises 
probably  from  inability  alone,  is  that  he  interferes  not  with  our 
domestic  concerns.  But  let  those  nations  pursue  what  course 
they  please,  I  feel  a  perfect  confidence  that  America  will  never 
adopt  a  policy  which  would  render  her  subservient  to  either, 
and  that  after  twenty-five  years  of  peace  and  unparalleled  pros 
perity  she  will  meet  with  fortitude  the  crisis,  be  it  what  it  will, 
which  may  result  from  the  difficult  situation  in  which  she  is  for 
the  first  time  placed  since  the  treaty  of  1783. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

October  25,  1808. 
Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

In  the  case  of  the  schooner  Anne,  carried  off  forcibly  by  a 
British  crew,  I  think  the  removal  of  the  inspector  should  be 
permitted  to  take  place.  The  collector  should  be  instructed  to 
communicate  from  time  to  time  all  circumstances  which  may 


420  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

enable  us  to  trace  the  vessel,  and  copies  of  these  papers  should 
be  furnished  to  Mr.  Madison  to  furnish  him  the  grounds  of  an 
answer  to  the  British  complaints  of  our  transactions  on  the 
Lakes. 

Would  it  not  be  well  to  have  a  bill  ready  for  Congress  on  the 
defects  which  experience  has  developed  in  the  embargo  laws? 
Mandamus.  The  discretion  of  the  collector  expressly  subjected 
to  instructions  from  hence.  To  seize  all  suspected  deposits. 
Bonds  to  be  equal  to  what  the  cargoes  would  sell  for  in  the 
highest  foreign  market,  &c.  Such  other  amendments  as  have 
occurred  to  you.  The  passing  the  law  at  their  meeting  would 
have  a  good  effect  in  Europe,  and  would  not  pledge  themselves 
to  a  continuance.  Affectionate  salutations. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

October  30,  1808. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

I  enclose  you  the  financial  paragraph  with  your  amendments. 
I  shall  insert  one  on  the  militia,  but  doubt  whether  I  can  say 
anything  about  the  deficiency  of  the  revenue  if  the  embargo  is 
continued,  having  declined  expressing  any  opinion  on  its  con 
tinuance.  The  whole  of  the  paragraphs  respecting  our  foreign 
affairs  will  be  to  be  remodelled  in  consequence  of  the  return  of 
the  Hope.  The  manufacturing  paragraph  is  also  remauufac- 
tured.  Affectionate  salutations. 

I  am  puzzled  about  the  Martinique  paupers. 


GALLATIN    TO    JEFFERSON. 


DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  2d  November,  1808. 
DEAR  SIR, — I  came   late   in  the  office,  and,  having  only 
verbal  alterations  to  propose  of  no  importance,  do  not  wish  to 
detain  the  message  from  the  other  gentlemen. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  421 

The  only  observations  that  have  occurred  are,  that  the  argu 
ment  derived  from  the  nature  of  the  answer  of  Mr.  Canning, 
being  more  controvertible  than  the  general  ground  assumed  in 
support  of  the  fairness  of  our  proposition,  seems  to  weaken  this. 
We  might  say,  Not  only  it  is  controverted  that  France  was  the 
aggressor;  not  only  we  deny  the  doctrine  of  retaliation,  particu 
larly  to  the  extent  it  has  been  carried ;  but  even  granting  all 
that,  our  proposition  met  every  objection,  &c.  The  climax  as 
the  message  stands  does  not  seem  quite  right,  nor  the  statement 
of  the  pretensions  of  Great  Britain,  as  contained  in  Canning's 
answer,  as  forcible  as  what  precedes.  Is  it  necessary  to  state 
that  at  all?  and  might  not  all  that  follows  the  words  "the  ar 
rangement  has  nevertheless  been  explicitly  rejected"  be  omitted? 
The  fact  is  that  I  do  not  recollect  enough  of  the  argumentative 
part  of  Canning's  answer  to  propose  any  alteration. 

But  I  wish  you  would  read  over  the  paragraph  to  which  I  allude. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

I  return  the  financial  paragraph  with  the  blanks  filled. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

REMARKS  ON  PRESIDENT'S  MESSAGE. 

2d  November,  1808. 

First  paragraph. — As  the  message  will  have  a  much  more 
rapid  and  extensive  circulation  than  the  accompanying  docu 
ments,  it  seems  desirable  that  the  proposition  made  to  the  bel 
ligerent  powers,  particularly  to  Great  Britain,  should  be  more 
explicitly  stated.  "  Our  disposition  to  exercise  the  authority  in 
such  manner  as  would  withdraw  the  very  pretexts  on  which 
their  aggressions  were  founded ;"  {( as  the  measure  had  been 
assumed  by  each  merely  as  a  retaliation  for  a  pretended  acqui 
escence  in  the  aggressions  of  the  other ;"  "  the  very  pretext  for 
obstructing  which  (the  commerce  of  the  United  States)  no  longer 
existed."  From  those  sentences  alone  in  the  message,  it  would 
be  impossible  to  infer  that  the  fair  proposition  to  the  belligerent 


422  WHITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1808. 

had  actually  been  made.  I  am  aware  that  a  difficulty  arises  in 
making  a  brief  and  clear  statement,  from  the  modified  manner 
in  which  the  overture  was  made  to  France,  which  will  be  best 
explained  by  the  documents.  Yet,  so  far  as  practicable,  it  is  of 
real  importance  that  the  message  itself  should  at  once,  and  in  an 
explicit  manner,  apprise  our  citizens  and  the  people  of  England 
of  the  candid,  impartial,  and  clear  proposition  which  was  made. 
How  such  modification  should  be  introduced  cannot  be  suggested 
without  recurrence  to  the  instructions  given  to  our  ministers  by 
the  Secretary  of  State. 

Would  it  be  improper,  in  order  to  repel  some  late  false  asser 
tions,  to  state  the  precise  time  and  vessel  by  which  the  instruc 
tions  were  sent  ?  adding  that  when  that  vessel  left  Europe  "  no 
change  had  yet  taken  place,"  &c.,  the  definitive  answer  to  our 
proposition,  which  is  every  day  expected,  not  having  at  that 
time  been  yet  given. 

This  would  modify  the  disagreeable  intelligence  that  no  change 
had  yet  taken  place,  and,  without  raising  improper  expectations, 
state  the  real  fact,  and  therefore  that  a  possibility  still  existed  of 
a  change. 

First  and  second  paragraphs. — The  conduct  of  the  belligerents 
affords  certainly  the  most  just  grounds  of  complaint.  Yet  those 
two  paragraphs  strike  me  as  being  too  much  in  a  tone  of  com 
plaint  and  despondency.  If  the  President  should,  on  reading 
them  over,  think  the  observation  correct,  it  will  be  easy  to  make 
a  few  verbal  alterations.  But  there  are  two  additions  at  the  end 
of  the  first  and  second  paragraphs  which  would  produce  the 
effect  I  wish,  and  be  in  other  respects  useful. 

1.  When  speaking  of  the  advantages  resulting  from  the  em 
bargo,  to  add,  the  opportunity  thereby  given  of  demonstrating 
to  foreign  nations  the  fairness  of  our  conduct,  of  placing  our 
cause  on  irrefragable  grounds  of  justice,  and  of  thereby  uniting 
the  whole  of  our  nation,  who  must  now  be  convinced  of  the 
sincerity  of  the  efforts  of  the  Executive  and  of  the  persevering 
injustice  of  the  belligerents. 

2.  In  speaking  of  the  painful  alternatives  out  of  which  Con 
gress  must  choose,  to  add  the  confidence  of  the  Executive  that 
the  crisis,  be  it  what  it  may,  will  be  met  with  fortitude,  &c. 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  423 

Third  paragraph. — I  think  this  much  too  long,  considering 
the  degree  of  importance  now  attached  to  it  by  the  nation.  I 
would  omit  the  opinion  that  the  seamen  will  be  restored. 

Seventh  paragraph. — I  would  omit  the  sentence,  "  as  the  ad 
ditional  expense  to  effect  this  would  be  very  considerable,  it  will 
rest  with  Congress  to  decide  on  its  being  undertaken."  For  the 
fact  is  sufficiently  evident  without  stating  it,  and,  under  existing 
circumstances,  the  sentence  might  be  misrepresented  as  intended 
to  prevent  the  adoption  of  the  measure. 

Tenth  paragraph. — The  conclusion  of  this  paragraph  an 
nounces,  I  fear,  more  than  has  been  performed.  I  would  omit 
from  "and  force  has  imposed"  to  the  end  of  the  paragraph. 

Eleventh  paragraph. — This  paragraph  appears  to  me  the  most 
objectionable  in  the  message.  From  the  manner  in  which  it 
is  expressed,  it  might  be  inferred,  as  the  President's  opinion, 
that  a  positive  benefit  is  derived  from  the  introduction  of  manu 
factures  caused  by  the  annihilation  of  commerce.  I  think  the 
opinion,  if  it  did  exist,  incorrect;  but,  be  that  as  it  may,  its 
avowal  (for  it  will  be  construed  as  an  avowal)  will  produce  a 
pernicious  effect,  and  furnish  a  powerful  weapon  to  the  disaf 
fected  in  the  seaports  and  in  all  the  Eastern  States.  All  that 
seems  important  to  be  communicated,  and  it  is  only  in  relation 
to  the  British  government  and  nation  that  it  is  important,  is 
that  the  situation  in  which  we  have  been  forced  has  compelled 
us  to  apply  a  portion  of  our  industry  and  capital  to  manufac 
tures,  and  that  those  establishments  will  be  permanent  for  the 
reasons  mentioned.  But  I  would  omit  everything  which  looks 
like  a  contrast  between  commerce  and  manufactures,  and  ex 
ultation  at  the  result.  This  result  should,  it  seems  to  me,  be 
given  as  consolation,  and  not  as  matter  of  congratulation  in 
the  abstract. 

Nor  have  we  any  data  which  would  justify  the  supposition 
that  the  mass  of  our  future  wants  will  be  supplied  from  among 
ourselves.  The  expressions  which  appear  to  me  most  objection 
able  are, u  the  nation  at  large  will  derive  sensible  advantage  from 
the  conversion,  &c." 

"  The  extent  is  far  beyond  expectation,"  and  "  the  mass  of  our 
future  wants,  &c." 


424  WHITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

"  And  the  produce  of  the  agriculturist,  &c.,"  to  the  end  of 
the  sentence,  particularly  the  contrast  with  the  necessity  here 
tofore  incurred  "to  traverse  the  ocean,  exposed  to  its  dangers 
and  to  rapine,"  which  is  little  less  than  a  denunciation  of  com 
merce. 

Twelfth  paragraph. — The  balance  in  the  Treasury  on  30th 
September  was  about  13,800,000  dollars.  But  this  great  ac 
cumulation  is  due  principally  to  our  having  redeemed  but  very 
little  debt  during  the  year,  the  great  bulk  of  reimbursement 
falling  for  this  calendar  year  on  31st  December  next,  when  we 
will  have  to  pay  near  six  millions,  chiefly  principal  of  the  eight 
per  cent,  stock.  Those  six  millions  must  therefore  be  considered 
as  a  deduction  from  the  balance  in  the  Treasury;  and  as  this  is 
the  last  time  that  the  President  will  address  Congress  on  that 
subject,  I  would  propose  to  include  in  the  redemption  of  debt 
what  will  be  paid  on  31st  December  next  (stating  it  as  such), 
presenting  thereby  in  a  single  view  the  total  amount  of  debt 
extinguished  during  the  eight  years  of  the  President's  Adminis 
tration. 

For  there  will  be  no  payments  on  that  account  between  the 
1st  of  January  and  the  4th  March  next.  I  will  be  able  Tues 
day  or  Wednesday  next  to  prepare  a  financial  paragraph  to  that 
effect,  and  to  fill  the  blanks  in  round  numbers.  The  President 
may  then  either  substitute  it  or  fill  the  blanks  of  the  present 
one. 

But  it  follows  that  we  cannot  draw  from  this  apparent  accu 
mulation  the  inferences  next  following  in  the  message.  The 
words  "  if  we  are  to  have  war"  do  also  state  the  case  in  words 
which  have  been  avoided  in  other  parts  of  the  message ;  nor  do 
they  state  all  the  contingencies  under  which  the  application  of 
all  our  funds  will  be  obvious.  For,  in  case  of  the  embargo 
being  continued,  we  will  have  still  less  revenue,  and  will  there 
fore  still  more  want  the  money  in  hand  than  in  case  of  war.  I 
would  therefore  submit  the  propriety  of  substituting  to  that  part 
of  the  message  in  substance  what  follows : 

"  The  probable  accumulation  of  the  surpluses  of  revenue  when 
ever  the  freedom  and  safety  of  our  commerce  shall  be  restored, 
beyond  what  can  be  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  public  debt, 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  425 

merits  the  consideration  of  Congress.    Shall  it  lie  unproductive? 
shall  the  revenue  be  reduced  ?  or  shall  it  not  ?  &c." 

I  would  omit  the  words  "  and  at  hazard  in  the  public  vaults." 
When  the  subject  of  improvements  was  recommended  two  years 
ago  by  the  President,  I  prevailed  on  him  to  omit  the  idea  of  an 
apportionment  amongst  the  several  States.  For  the  same  reason 
I  wish  extremely  that  the  words  "  securing  to  each  of  them  the 
employment  of  their  proportionate  share  within  their  respective 
States"  [should  be  omitted].  It  may  ultimately  be  necessary 
to  insert  such  provision  in  the  amendment  in  order  to  insure  its 
success ;  but  it  is  very  desirable  that  it  should  be  adopted  with 
out  such  restriction.  A  just  apportionment  will  naturally  result 
from  the  conflicting  interests  on  the  floor  of  Congress. 

But  the  strict  rule  in  a  constitutional  provision  would  be  very 
embarrassing,  and  sometimes  defeat  the  most  important  objects, 
because  it  often  happens  that  an  improvement  is  as  useful  or 
more  useful  to  an  adjacent  State  than  to  that  through  which  it 
passes.  Thus,  the  Chesapeake  and  Delaware  Canal  is  almost 
altogether  in  the  State  of  Delaware,  and  does  not  touch  Penn 
sylvania,  to  which  it  is  more  useful  than  to  any  other  State. 
According  to  the  rule,  its  expense  should  be  considered  as  the 
apportionment  of  Delaware,  and  Pennsylvania  would  receive 
her  whole  apportionment  for  other  works,  as  if  that  was  not 
done  principally  on  her  account.  Indeed,  as  Delaware  is  not 
yj-g-th  part  of  the  Union,  if  the  part  of  the  canal  which  passes 
through  that  State  costs  600,000  dollars,  it  never  could  be  done 
unless  sixty  millions  of  dollars  were  expended  in  the  whole.  I 
am  clearly  of  opinion  that  without  an  amendment  to  the  Consti 
tution  nothing  efficient  can  be  done ;  but  in  order  to  insure  the 
execution  of  the  great  national  communications,  the  application 
should,  if  possible,  be  left  by  the  amendment  to  Congress,  unre 
strained  by  special  rules. 


There  are,  I  think,  two  omissions  in  the  message : 
1st.  In  the  case  of  war,  or  continued  embargo,  the  revenue 
will  be  evidently  insufficient  to  meet  the  expenses. 

2d.  Although  former  recommendations  have  not  been  success- 


426  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

ful,  I  would  again  call  the  attention  of  Congress  to  improvements 
in  the  militia, — the  defence  which  events  have  now  so  clearly 
demonstrated  to  be  the  only  one  on  which  nations  can  rely  with 
safety. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  3d  November,  1808. 
DEAR  SIR, — No  deed  has  ever  been  made  to  Indians  of  lands 
reserved  to  them  in  this  manner,  for  two  reasons  :  1st,  that,  hold 
ing  from  them,  we  cannot  convey  to  them  what  they  have  not 
ceded;  2d,  that  this  reservation  is  on  the  same  footing  with 
other  lands  not  ceded,  being  reserved  not  for  individuals  who 
might  sell,  but  for  a  whole  tribe.  By  our  general  law,  the 
Indians  cannot,  therefore,  sell  this  tract  to  any  but  the  United 
States.  I  have  no  doubt  that  this  is  a  white  men  speculation, 
the  patent  now  applied  for  being  intended  to  enable  the  In 
dians  to  sell  to  them.  But,  at  all  events,  a  law  would  be 
necessary  to  authorize  a  patent  in  this  case.  If  we  knew  the 
Nantucket  consumption,  we  might  act  on  the  petition.  They 
have  been  concerned  in  the  exportation,  and  very  probably 
there  is  now  a  scarcity.  Vessels  may  take  their  cargoes  under 
the  usual  restrictions  as  to  all  other  ports.  Yet  it  may  be  best, 
on  the  plan  which  you  have  adopted,  to  write  to  Mr.  Lincoln. 
I  would  prefer  writing  to  the  collector.  The  words  "extin 
guishing  7,670,000  dollars  of  principal  during  the  current 
year,"  in  the  financial  paragraph,  are  not  correct.  That  sum 
is  the  amount  redeemed  within  fifteen  months,  viz.,  from  1st 
October,  1807,  to  31st  December,  1808.  I  would,  therefore, 
omit  those  words,  stating  only  that  the  payment  of  1st  January 
next  includes  the  completion  of  the  reimbursement  of  the  8  per 
cent,  stock.  With  that  omission,  "  seven  and  an  half  preceding 
years"  should  be  substituted  in  the  next  line  to  "six  and  an 
half."  The  total  amount  of  redemption,  viz.,  $33,580,000, 
is  for  7  years  and  9  months,  viz.,  from  1st  April,  1801,  to 
1st  January,  1809,  and  will  include  almost  the  whole  of  your 
Administration,  as  nothing  will  be  paid  from  1st  January,  1809, 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  427 

to  3d  March  ensuing,  and  the  only  sum  omitted  is  what  may 
have  been  paid  between  3d  March,  1801,  and  1st  of  April  of 
same  year,  which  I  have  never  ascertained,  but  does  not  exceed 
one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 

I  cannot  say  precisely  what  the  revenue  liberated  amounts  to, 
but  think  it  is  a  little  less  than  two  millions ;  about  might  be 
substituted  to  upwards. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  8th  November,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  collector  of  Barnstable  and  his  son,  who 
acts  as  deputy,  have  faithfully  used  their  best  endeavors  to  carry 
the  laws  into  effect,  and,  according  to  what  appears  to  be  a  part 
of  the  system  adopted  in  Massachusetts,  are  harassed  by  private 
suits.  All  the  cases,  three  in  number,  are  perfectly  clear;  deten 
tions  arising  from  the  opinion  of  the  collector  that  the  intention 
was  to  evade  the  law,  and  on  such  grounds  as  have  induced  in 
every  case  a  confirmation  in  the  name  of  the  President.  I  can 
do  no  more  than  to  give  general  assurances  of  support;  and  one 
source  of  embarrassment  arises  from  the  conduct  of  the  district 
attorney,  Blake,  who  has  not  even  answered  a  single  one  of  the 
many  letters  which  I  have  written  to  him  in  relation  to  the  em 
bargo.  Both  as  relates  to  the  suits  against  the  collector  and  the 
question  of  replevy,  which,  if  submitted  to,  will  defeat  the  oper 
ation  of  any  law  we  can  pass,  I  wish  that  the  President  would 
read  the  letters  and  give  an  opinion  which  I  may,  in  his  name, 
communicate  to  the  district  attorney.  And  it  is  also  necessary 
to  examine  what  provisions  may  be  introduced  in  our  Judiciary 
Act  which  will  protect  our  laws  and  collectors  against  encroach 
ments  of  State  officers. 

I  enclose,  as  connected  with  the  subject,  copy  of  a  letter 
written  last  summer  to  the  collector  of  Newport  on  the  subject 
of  replevy. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


428  WHITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1808. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  TREASURY,  15th  November,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — Both  Mr.  Madison  and  myself  concur  in  opinion 
that,  considering  the  temper  of  the  Legislature,  or  rather  of  its 
members,  it  would  be  eligible  to  point  out  to  them  some  precise 
and  distinct  course. 

As  to  what  that  should  be,  we  may  not  all  perfectly  agree ;  and 
perhaps  the  knowledge  of  the  various  feelings  of  the  members 
and  of  the  apparent  public  opinion  may  on  consideration  induce 
a  revision  of  our  own.  I  feel  myself  nearly  as  undetermined 
between  enforcing  the  embargo  or  war  as  I  was  on  our  last 
meetings.  But  I  think  that  we  must  (or  rather  you  must) 
decide  the  question  absolutely,  so  that  we  may  point  out  a 
decisive  course  either  way  to  our  friends.  Mr.  Madison,  being 
unwell,  proposed  that  I  should  call  on  you  and  suggest  our  wish 
that  we  might,  with  the  other  gentlemen,  be  called  by  you  on 
that  subject.  Should  you  think  that  course  proper,  the  sooner 
the  better.  The  current  business  has  prevented  my  waiting  on 
you  personally  in  the  course  of  the  morning. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO   WM.   B.   GILES,  U.  S.  SEN. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  November  24,  1808. 

SIR, — Indisposition  has  prevented  an  earlier  answer  to  your 
letter  of  the  14th  instant. 

For  better  preventing  coasting  vessels,  regularly  cleared,  from 
violating  the  embargo,  two  measures  appear  necessary : 

1.  That  the  amount  of  the  bond  should  be  increased.  2.  That 
neither  capture,  distress,  nor  any  other  accident  should  be  ad 
mitted  as  a  plea,  or  given  in  evidence  on  trial. 

By  the  first  regulation,  the  temptation  of  going  to  a  foreign 
port,  in  hopes  that  the  profit  on  the  sale  of  the  cargo  will  in 
demnify  for  the  forfeiture  of  the  penalty,  will  be  done  away. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  429 

By  the  second,  every  expectation  of  escaping  the  payment  of  the 
penalty  under  fraudulent  pretences  will  be  disappointed,  and  the 
power  of  remitting  the  penalties  in  the  few  cases  of  unavoidable 
accident  which  may  occur  will  remain  as  heretofore,  and,  as  in 
other  cases,  with  the  Treasury. 

As  the  object  of  those  two  regulations  will  be  to  make  the 
bond  a  sufficient  and  complete  security,  they  will  have  a  tend 
ency  to  relieve,  in  a  considerable  degree,  the  coasting  trade  from 
the  inconvenience  resulting  from  detentions. 

The  sufficiency  of  the  bond  will,  in  many  doubtful  cases,  re 
move  the  necessity  of  detaining  vessels,  or,  what  amounts  to 
the  same,  of  informing  the  owners  that,  unless  they  reduce  the 
amount  of  their  cargoes,  they  will  be  detained. 

I  would  also  submit  the  propriety  of  placing  under  the  con 
trol  of  the  President  that  power  of  detention  vested  in  the  col 
lectors  by  the  Act  of  the  25th  of  April  last.  That  subject  has 
been  a  constant  source  of  complaint  and  difficulty.  It  has  been 
the  uniform  practice,  from  the  establishment  of  the  government 
of  the  United  States,  to  give  positive  instructions  to  the  col 
lectors  respecting  the  execution  of  the  laws,  and  which  they 
were  bound  to  obey,  unless  a  different  construction  should  be 
established  by  a  legal  decision.  This,  indeed,  was  essentially 
necessary,  in  order  to  secure  an  uniform  construction  and  execu 
tion  of  the  laws.  But  the  provision  now  alluded  to  makes  the 
detention  to  rest  on  the  opinion  of  each  collector,  and  this  must 
necessarily  produce  a  great  diversity  in  the  manner  in  which 
the  power  should  be  executed.  All  has  been  done  that  could  be 
done  to  obviate  that  evil,  and,  the  President  being  authorized  to 
decide  on  the  detentions  when  made,  the  opportunity  was  taken 
to  inform  the  collectors  of  what,  in  his  opinion,  should  be  a 
proper  cause  of  detention.  This,  however,  could  be  given  only 
as  opinion,  and  operate  as  a  recommendation,  and  not  as  an 
order.  Nor  does  it  appear  practicable  to  establish  uniformity 
and  to  prevent  partiality,  and  either  laxity  or  too  great  severity 
in  practice,  unless  the  power  of  prescribing  general  rules  in  that 
respect,  by  which  the  collectors  will  be  bound  to  abide,  be  vested 
in  the  President. 

I  am  aware  that  there  is  another  mode  of  evasion  by  regular 


430  WHITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

coasting  vessels,  which  will  not  be  prevented  by  either  of  the 
preceding  provisions.  Either  whilst  in  port,  or  on  their  way 
down  our  rivers  and  bays,  coasting  vessels  may  receive  articles 
not  entered  in  their  manifest,  which  they  put  on  board  other 
vessels,  lying  off  the  coast  for  that  purpose. 

But  it  is  not  perceived  that  any  legal  provision  can  prevent 
that  infraction,  nor  that  any  other  remedy  can  be  found  than 
the  vigilance  of  the  officers.  Another  general  regulation  will, 
however,  be  suggested,  perhaps  useful  as  a  permanent  measure, 
but  which  would,  at  all  events,  under  existing  circumstances, 
give  additional  security  for  the  observance  of  the  laws,  and 
afford  some  relief  to  our  own  seamen,  to  wit,  a  prohibition  to 
employ  any  aliens  either  as  masters  or  part  of  the  crew  of  any 
coasting  vessel. 

It  is  still  more  difficult  to  guard  against  violations  by  vessels 
departing  without  clearance,  in  open  defiance  of  the  laws.  The 
following  provisions,  on  mature  consideration,  appear  the  most 
efficient  that  can  be  devised  against  infractions,  which  it  is  the 
more  necessary  to  repress,  as  they  may  be  daily  expected  to  in 
crease,  and  threaten  to  prostrate  the  law  and  government  itself: 

1.  To  forbid  expressly  under  pain  of  forfeiture  (the  penalty 
now  being  only  implied)  the  lading  of  any  vessel  without  the 
permission  of  the  collector,  and  without  the  bond  for  a  coasting 
voyage  being  previously  given,  authorizing  the  collectors  to  refuse 
permission  unless  the  object  be  that  of  a  lawful  coasting  or  fish 
ing  voyage.     The  great  number  of  vessels  now  laden  and  in  a 
state  of  readiness  to  depart  shows  the  necessity  of  this  provision. 
If  there  be  cases  in  which  the  indulgence  of  converting  vessels 
into  warehouses  ought  to  be  granted,  there  will  be  no  hardship, 
where  the  intention  is  fair,  to  require  a  bond  similar  to  that 
given  for  a  coasting  voyage.      And  the  collectors  should  like 
wise,  in  such  cases,  be  expressly  authorized  to  take  such  efficient 
precautions  as  will  put  it  out  of  the  power  of  such  vessels  to  sail 
without  warning. 

2.  In  order  to  prevent  those  fraudulent  sales  of  vessels  by 
which  ostensible  owners  of  no  responsibility  are  substituted  for 
those  from  whom  penalties  might  be  recovered,  it  is  necessary  to 
provide  that  those  owners  of  vessels  whose  names  appear  on  the 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  431 

register  or  license  should  continue  to  be  reputed  as  such,  and 
liable  to  the  penalties,  in  case  of  infraction  of  the  laws,  until 
the  register  or  license  shall  have  been  actually  surrendered,  and 
new  papers  shall  have  been  regularly  granted  by  the  collector  to 
the  purchaser.  And,  in  every  such  case  of  purchase,  a  sufficient 
bond  that  the  embargo  shall  not  be  infringed,  to  be  previously 
required. 

3.  The  power  to  seize  unusual  deposits,  now  vested  in  the  col 
lectors  of  districts  adjacent  to  the  territories  of  foreign  nations, 
should,  as  was  contemplated  in  the  bill  passed  by  the  House  of 
Representatives,  be  extended  to  all  the  districts.     That  this  is 
an  arbitrary  power,  which  nothing  but  the  unremitted  efforts 
in  some  places  to  evade  the  law  can  possibly  justify,  cannot  be 
denied,  and  it  should,  like  that  of  detention,  be  placed  under 
the  control  of  the  President,  and  be  executed  only  in  conformity 
with  such  general  rules  as  he  would  prescribe. 

4.  Exclusively  of  the  assistance  which  may  be  derived  from 
gunboats  and  from  the  armed  vessels  of  the  United  States,  it 
would  be  advisable  to  authorize  the  President  to  add  ten  or 
twelve  cutters  to  the  establishment.    Fast  sailing  vessels,  of  easy 
draft  of  water,  and  requiring  only  from  fifteen  to  thirty  men 
each,  are  mostly  wanted,  and  would,  for  the  object  contemplated, 
be  as  useful  as  the  largest  frigates. 

5.  It  is  with  regret  that  the  necessity  of  authorizing,  on  the 
application  of  the  collector,  an  immediate  call  for  the  local 
physical  force  of  the  country  must  also  be  stated.     But  such 
partial  acts  of  violence  as  have  taken  place  in  some  of  the  sea 
ports  cannot  be  prevented  by  the  circuitous  manner  in  which  the 
public  force  must  now  be  brought  out  in  support  of  the  laws. 
And  no  doubt  exists  that  the  mass  of  the  citizens,  whether  they 
approve  or  disapprove  of  the  embargo,  would,  in  every  port, 
instantaneously  suppress  any  such  outrage,  provided  they  can 
be  called  upon  to  act  in  a  legal  manner. 

Some  other  provisions  appear  also  necessary  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  the  laws  more  completely  into  effect  along  our  land 
frontier : 

1.  The  exportation  of  specie  by  land  should  be  expressly 
prohibited. 


432  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1808. 

2.  The  power  of  detaining  deposits  should  be  so  expressed 
as  to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  authority  to  detain  wagons  and 
other  carriages  laden  and  actually  on  their  way  to  a  foreign 
territory.     Although  I  cannot  perceive  any  reason  for  the  dis 
tinction,  it  has  been  supposed,  in  one  of  the  districts,  that  the 
law  which  authorized  the  detention  of  flour,  beef,  or  potash  de 
posited  in  a  warehouse,  did  not  extend  to  the  case  of  their  being 
deposited  in  a  wagon,  although  evidently  on  its  way  to  Canada. 

3.  The  offence  now  punishable  by  law  is  that  of  exportation. 
This  is  not  consummated  till  after  the  property  has  actually 
been  carried  beyond  the  lines,  where,  being  in  a  foreign  juris 
diction,  it  cannot  be  seized,  so  that  forfeiture,  which  is  the  most 
efficient  penalty,  can  never  apply  to  exportations  by  land ;  and 
no  bond  being  required,  as  in  the  case  of  vessels,   the  only 
remedy  is  the  uncertain  one  of  recovering  penalties  against  ap 
parent  offenders,  who  either  abscond  or  have  no  property.    How 
far  it  may  be  practicable  to  make  the  act  of  preparing  the  means 
of  exportation  punishable,  or  to  provide  some  other  remedy,  is 
submitted  to  the  committee. 

But  it  must  also  be  observed  that  every  degree  of  opposition 
to  the  laws  which  falls  short  of  treason  is  now,  with  but  few 
exceptions,  an  offence  undefined  and  unprovided  for  by  the  laws 
of  the  United  States ;  whence  it  follows  that  such  offences  re 
main  unpunished  when  the  State  authorities  do  not  interfere. 
The  necessity  of  defining  those  offences  by  law  as  misdemeanors, 
and  of  providing  an  adequate  punishment,  appears  obvious. 

I  will  beg  leave  here  to  add,  that  it  does  not  appear  neces 
sary  to  continue  any  longer  the  indulgence  granted  to  the  Brit 
ish  merchants  to  import,  for  the  use  of  the  Indians,  articles 
of  which  the  importation  is  generally  prohibited  by  law,  as  that 
privilege  is  liable  to  great  abuse,  and  affords  just  ground  of  dis 
satisfaction  to  American  citizens.  Whether  it  be  advisable  to 
continue  the  permission  given  to  those  Indian  traders  to  export 
furs  and  peltries,  is  a  question  to  be  decided  by  political  con 
siderations. 

The  last  branch  of  the  subject  to  which  I  wish  at  present  to 
call  the  attention  of  the  committee  relates  to  interruptions  and 
certain  injurious  proceedings  attempted  under  color  of  law  : 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  433 

1.  Vexatious  suits  are  brought  against  collectors,  which  not 
only  perplex  faithful  officers,  but  have  the  effect  of  intimidating 
others,  and  prevent  an   energetic  performance  of  their  duties. 
The  only  provisions  which  have  occurred  to  me  on  that  subject 
are,  to  enable  the  collectors  who  may  be  sued  always  to  remove 
the  cause  before  a  court  of  the  United  States ;  to  make  a  cer 
tificate,  issued  by  the  proper  authority,  that  there  was  reasonable 
cause  of  detention ;  protect  them  against  damages  in  cases  of 
detentions,  in  the  same  manner  as  is  now  provided  in  case  of 
seizures ;    and  to  provide  for  the  safe-keeping  and  restoring, 
when    proper,  and   on  security  being   given,  the   vessels   and 
property  which  may  be  detained. 

2.  Attempts  have  in  several   instances  been  made  to  wrest 
from  the  collectors,  by  writs  of  replevin  issued  by  State  courts 
or  officers,  property  detained  or  seized   by  said  collectors,  or 
which  in  any  other  manner  is  in  their  possession,  in  conformity 
with  some  law  of  the  United  States.     It  is  evident  that  such 
attempts,  if  submitted  to,  would  defeat  not  only  the  embargo, 
but  also  the  revenue  laws  of  the  United  States ;  that  whenever 
property  is,  by  virtue  of  a  law  of  the  United  States,  in  posses 
sion  of  a  collector,  marshal,  or  any  other  of  their  officers,  no 
process,  in  rem,  which  will  take  the  property  away,  whether  of 
replevin,  attachment,  or  any  other,  can  be  legally  issued  by  a 
State  authority ;  and  that  the  sheriff  or  other  person  executing 
the  same  must  be  considered  as  a  mere  trespasser,  and  be  re 
sisted  accordingly.     But  there  is  no  other  way  at  present  to 
resist  such  illegal   process   but  actual  force.     And  it  appears 
necessary  that  another  remedy  should  be  afforded  by  providing 
a  summary  mode  of  superseding  any  such  process  through  the 
interference  of  the  courts  and  judges  of  the  United  States,  and 
by  making  it  penal  for  any  sheriff  or  other  person  to  execute 
the  same,  or  in  any  manner  to  attempt  to  take  property  which, 
by  virtue  of  any  law  of  the  United  States,  is  in  the  collector's 
possession. 

3.  In  some  instances  where  vessels  and  cargoes  libelled  for 
infractions  of  the  embargo  have  been  restored  to  the  owners 
on  their  giving  security  for  the  appraised  value,  the  valuations 
have  been  so  low  as  to  reduce  the  forfeiture  to  an  inconsiderable 

VOL.  i.— 29 


434  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

sum,  thereby  defeating  altogether  the  law.  It  is  suggested  that 
this  might  be  prevented  by  a  provision  authorizing  and  direct 
ing  the  district  judges  to  set  aside,  on  motion  of  the  district 
attorney,  such  valuations  whenever,  in  their  opinion,  falling 
short  of  the  true  value. 

On  the  subject  of  mandamus,  I  will  only  observe  that,  in  the 
only  instance  which  has  taken  place,  the  court,  supposing  they 
had  jurisdiction,  could  not,  from  the  manner  in  which  the  ques 
tion  was  brought  before  them,  have  decided  otherwise  than  they 
did ;  but  that  it  is  desirable  that  the  question  of  jurisdiction,  as 
it  relates  either  to  the  courts  in  whom  the  power  ought  to  be 
vested,  or  to  the  cases  to  which  it  should  extend,  should  be 
precisely  defined  by  law. 

I  have  not,  in  this  communication,  taken  into  consideration 
the  technical  defects  of  the  existing  embargo  laws,  because 
prosecutions  do  not  fall  within  my  immediate  cognizance,  and 
I  do  not  feel  competent  to  the  task  of  pointing  out  the  necessary 
alterations.  Measures  have,  however,  been  taken  to  procure  on 
that  subject,  and  from  the  proper  sources,  information,  which 
will  hereafter  be  laid  before  the  committee. 

To  the  remaining  inquiry  of  the  committee,  whether  the  in 
conveniences  of  the  present  system  may  not  in  some  degree  be 
removed,  I  can  only  answer,  generally,  that  a  law  which  lays 
such  extensive  restrictions  as  the  embargo  cannot  be  carried 
into  effect  without  imposing  serious  inconveniences,  even  on  the 
domestic  intercourse  of  the  United  States ;  and  that  these  must 
necessarily  be  increased  in  proportion  to  the  opposition  and 
efforts  to  evade  or  violate  the  law.  It  has  already  been  stated 
that  provisions  which  will  render  the  bond  given  by  coast 
ing  vessels  a  complete  security  against  violations  by  them  will 
diminish  the  necessity  and  extent  of  more  arbitrary  restrictions. 
An  authority  to  permit,  on  proper  security  being  given,  such 
vessels,  when  they  arrive  in  port,  to  keep  their  cargoes  on 
board,  would  afford  some  relief.  And  I  think  that  the  credit 
on  duties  accruing  on  the  importation  of  certain  articles  which 
was  allowed  by  the  Act  of  the  10th  March  last,  should  be  ex 
tended  to  all  importations  of  the  same  articles  made  after  the 
passing  of  the  Act;  those  made  in  vessels  which  sailed  under 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  435 

special  permission  only  excepted.  With  respect  to  this  last  class 
of  importations,  as  they  were  permitted  by  special  indulgence, 
and  as  it  is  understood  that  it  has  been  impossible  in  many 
cases  to  prevent  its  being  abused,  and  as  in  almost  all,  the 
parties,  having  a  species  of  exclusive  privilege,  have  made  suf 
ficiently  profitable  voyages,  the  propriety,  particularly  in  the 
existing  situation  of  the  revenue,  of  allowing  them  also  the 
advantage  of  an  extended  credit  on  duties,  is  not  perceived. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant. 


CAMPBELL'S  REPORT. 

November,  1808. 

The  committee  to  whom,  &c.,  report : 

After  a  period  of  twenty-five  years  of  peace,  hardly  inter 
rupted  by  transient  hostilities,  and  of  prosperity  unparalleled 
in  the  history  of  nations,  the  United  States  are,  for  the  first 
time  since  the  treaty  which  terminated  the  Revolutionary 
war,  placed  in  a  situation  equally  difficult,  critical,  and  dan 
gerous. 

Those  principles  recognized  by  the  civilized  world,  under  the 
name  of  law  of  nations,  which  heretofore  controlled  belligerent 
powers,  regulated  the  duties  of  neutrals,  and  protected  their 
rights,  are  now  avOAvedly  disregarded  or  forgotten  by  Great 
Britain  and  France.  Each  of  those  two  nations  captures  and 
condemns  all  American  vessels  trading  with  her  enemy  or  her 
enemy's  allies;  and  every  European  power  having  become  a 
party  in  the  contest,  the  whole  of  our  commerce  with  Europe 
and  European  colonies  becomes  liable  to  capture  by  either  the 
one  or  the  other.  If  there  be  any  nominal  exception,  it  is 
made  on  a  condition  of  tribute  which  only  adds  insult  to  the 
injury. 

The  only  plea  urged  in  justification  of  those  hostilities  is 
that  of  retaliation,  grounded  on  a  presumed  acquiescence  of 
the  United  States  in  previous  aggressions  of  the  other  party. 
Waiving  a  discussion  of  the  correctness  of  the  principle  of 


436  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

retaliation, — a  principle  doubtful  in  itself,  and  altogether  in 
admissible  to  the  extent  to  which  it  has  been  carried,  and  when 
operating  on  the  neutral  rather  than  on  the  enemy, — it  is  alto 
gether  untrue  that  the  United  States  have  ever  voluntarily 
acquiesced  in  the  unlawful  aggressions  of  either  nation,  omitted 
or  delayed  any  measures  calculated  to  obtain  redress,  or  in  any 
respect  deviated  from  that  strict  impartiality  to  which  they  were 
bound  by  their  neutrality. 

France  has  alluded  to  the  violations  of  the  national  flag 
and  of  the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  in  the  instances  of 
Piercers  murder,  of  the  outrage  on  the  Chesapeake,  and  of  the 
destruction  of  the  Impetuous.  The  measures  taken  to  obtain 
redress  in  tho*e  cases  are  of  public  notoriety ;  and  it  may  be 
added  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  last,  those  aggressions  on 
the  sovereignty  of  the  United  States  did  not  affect  their  neu 
trality,  and  gave  no  right  to  France  either  of  complaint  or 
interference. 

Setting  aside  irregularities  of  less  importance,  and  equally 
chargeable  to  both  nations,  such  as  the  British  order  of  June, 
1803,  and  the  decree  of  the  French  general,  Ferrand,  the  prin 
cipal  violations  by  England  of  the  neutral  rights  of  America 
prior  to  the  Berlin  decree  of  November,  1806,  and  which,  if 
acquiesced  in,  might  have  given  grounds  of  complaint  to  France, 
are,  the  captures  of  American  vessels  lad-en  with  colonial  prod 
uce,  founded  on  a  renewal  of  that  pretended  principle  gener 
ally  called  "the  Eule  of  1756  ;"  the  impressment  of  American 
seamen,  compelled  thereby  to  become  the  auxiliaries  of  England 
against  France,  and  proclamation  or  nominal  blockades,  par 
ticularly  that  of  the  coast  from  the  river  Elbe  to  Brest,  notified 
in  May,  1806. 

It  will  not  be  asserted  that  the  United  States  ever  tamely  ac 
quiesced  in  either  of  those  pretensions.  It  will  not  be  denied 
that,  with  respect  to  the  two  first,  the  most  strenuous  efforts 
were  incessantly  made  to  procure  an  alteration  of  the  British 
system. 

It  is  true  that  to  the  nominal  proclamation  blockades  of  Eng 
land  the  United  States  had  opposed  only  spirited  and  repeated 
remonstrances,  and  that  these  had  not  always  been  successful. 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  437 

But  the  measures  which  a  neutral  nation  may  be  supposed 
bound  to  take  against  the  infractions  of  its  neutrality  must 
always  bear  a  certain  proportion  to  the  extent  and  nature  of  the 
injury  received  and  to  the  means  of  opposition.  It  cannot  cer 
tainly  be  pretended  that  a  hasty  resort  to  war  should,  in  every 
such  instance,  have  become  the  duty  of  America.  Nor  can  the 
irregularities  of  England  in  declaring  in  a  state  of  blockade  a 
certain  extent  of  coast,  part  of  which  was  not,  and  the  whole 
of  which  could  not,  even  by  her  powerful  navy,  be  actually  in 
vested  and  blockaded,  be  pleaded  in  justification  of  that  decree 
by  which  France,  without  an  efficient  fleet,  pretends  to  announce 
the  blockade  of  the  dominions  of  a  power  which  has  the  incon 
testable  command  of  the  sea,  and  before  no  port  of  which  she 
can  station  a  single  vessel. 

The  Milan  decree  of  1807  can  still  less  rest  for  its  defence  on 
the  supposed  acquiescence  of  the  United  States  in  the  British 
orders  of  the  preceding  month,  since  those  orders,  which  have 
not  certainly  been  acquiesced  in,  were  not  even  known  in  Amer 
ica  at  the  date  of  the  decree.  And  it  is  proper  here  to  add  that 
the  French  have,  particularly  by  the  sequestration  of  certain 
vessels  in  their  ports,  and  by  burning  our  ships  on  the  high 
seas,  gone  even  beyond  the  tenor  of  their  own  extraordinary 
edicts. 

The  allegation  of  an  acquiescence  in  the  Berlin  decree  of  No 
vember,  1806,  by  which  alone  the  British  government  pretends 
to  justify  the  orders  of  council,  is  equally  unfounded.  In  the 
note  on  that  subject  addressed,  on  the  31st  December,  1806,  by 
the  British  government  to  the  American  ministers,  after  having 
stated  that  they  would  not  believe  that  the  enemy  would  ever 
seriously  attempt  to  enforce  such  a  system,  the  following  decla 
ration  is  expressly  made :  "  If,  however,  the  enemy  should  carry 
these  threats  into  execution,  and  if  neutral  nations,  contrary  to 
all  expectation,  should  acquiesce  in  such  usurpations,  his  Maj 
esty  might  probably  be  compelled,  however  reluctantly,  to  retal 
iate  in  his  just  defence/7  &c.  The  two  requisites  necessary  in 
the  opinion  of  Great  Britain  to  justify  retaliation  are  stated  to 
be  the  execution  of  the  decree,  and  the  acquiescence  of  neutral 
nations.  Yet  within  eight  days  after,  and  in  the  face  of  that 


438  WKITINGS    OF     GALL  A  TIN.  1808. 

declaration,  without  waiting  for  ascertaining  either  of  these  facts, 
the  retaliating  British  order  of  January  7,  1807,  was  issued, 
which,  contrary  to  the  acknowledged  law  of  nations,  subjected 
to  capture  vessels  of  the  United  States  sailing  from  the  ports  of 
one  belligerent  to  a  port  of  another  belligerent. 

The  United  States,  in  the  mean  while,  and  without  delay, 
had  taken  the  necessary  steps  to  ascertain  the  manner  in  which 
the  French  government  intended  to  execute  their  decree. 

That  decree  might  be  construed  merely  as  a  municipal  law 
forbidding  the  introduction  of  British  merchandise  and  the  ad 
mission  of  vessels  coming  from  England.  Under  that  aspect, 
and  if  confined  to  that  object,  the  neutral  rights  of  America 
were  not  affected  by  its  operation. 

A  belligerent  may,  without  any  infraction  of  neutral  rights, 
forbid  the  admission  into  his  ports  of  any  vessel  coming  from 
the  ports  of  his  enemy.  And  France  had  undoubtedly  the  same 
right  to  exclude  from  her  dominions  every  species  of  British 
merchandise  which  the  United  States  have  exercised  in  forbid 
ding  the  importation  of  certain  species.  Great  Britain  might 
be  injured  by  such  regulations;  but  America  had  no  more  right 
to  complain  of  that  part  of  the  decree  than  France  had  to  object 
to  the  American  Non-Importation  Act.  So  far,  indeed,  as  re 
spects  the  United  States,  they  were  placed  by  the  municipal  part 
of  the  decree  in  the  same  situation  in  relation  to  France  in  which 
they  are  placed  in  their  intercourse  with  Great  Britain  by  the 
permanent  laws  of  that  country.  The  French  decree  forbids 
American  vessels  to  import  British  merchandise  into  France. 
The  British  Navigation  Act  forbids  American  vessels  to  import 
French  merchandise  into  England.  But  that  broad  clause  of 
the  Berlin  decree  which  declared  the  British  Islands  in  a  state 
of  blockade,  though  not  followed  by  regulations  to  that  effect, 
still  threatened  an  intended  operation  on  the  high  seas.  This, 
if  carried  into  effect,  would  be  a  flagrant  violation  of  the  neutral 
rights  of  the  United  States,  and,  as  such,  they  would  be  bound 
to  oppose  it.  The  minister  of  the  United  States  at  Paris  imme 
diately  applied  for  explanations  on  that  subject ;  and  the  French 
Minister  of  Marine,  on  the  24th  December,  1806,  seven  days 
before  the  date  of  the  above-mentioned  note  of  the  British  gov- 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  439 

eminent,  stated  in  answer  that  the  decree  made  no  alteration  in 
the  regulations  then  observed  in  France  with  regard  to  neutral 
navigators,  or  to  the  commercial  convention  of  the  United  States 
with  France ;  that  the  declaration  of  the  British  Islands  being 
in  a  state  of  blockade  did  not  change  the  existing  French  laws 
concerning  maritime  captures;  and  that  American  vessels  could 
not  be  taken  at  sea  for  the  mere  reason  of  their  being  going  to 
or  returning  from  an  English  port. 

The  execution  of  the  decree  comported  for  several  months 
with  those  explanations;  several  vessels  were  arrested  for  having 
introduced  articles  of  English  growth  or  manufacture,  and  among 
them  some  which,  being  actually  from  England  and  laden  with 
English  colonial  produce,  had  entered  with  forged  papers  as  if 
coming  from  the  United  States.  But  no  alteration  of  the  first 
construction  given  by  the  French  government  took  place  until 
the  month  of  September,  1807.  The  first  condemnation  on  the 
principle  that  the  decree  subjected  neutral  vessels  to  capture  on 
the  high  seas  was  that  of  the  Horizon,  on  the  10th  October 
following;  prior  to  that  time  there  could  have  been  no  acqui 
escence  in  a  decree  infringing  the  neutral  rights  of  the  United 
States,  because  till  that  time  it  was  explained,  and,  what  was 
more  important,  executed  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  infringe 

those  rights, because  till  then  no  such  infraction  had  taken 

place.  The  ministers  of  the  United  States  at  London,  at  the 
request  of  the  British  minister,  communicated  to  him  on  the 
18th  October,  1807,  the  substance  of  the  explanations  received, 
and  of  the  manner  in  which  the  decree  was  executed,  for  they 
were  at  that  time  ignorant  of  the  change  which  had  taken 
place. 

It  was  on  the  18th  September,  1807,  that  a  new  construction 
of  the  decree  took  place,  an  instruction  having  on  that  day  been 
transmitted  to  the  council  of  prizes  by  the  Minister  of  Justice, 
by  which  that  court  was  informed  that  French  armed  vessels 
were  authorized  under  that  decree  to  seize,  without  exception,  in 
neutral  vessels,  either  English  property  or  merchandise  of  Eng 
lish  growth  or  manufacture.  An  immediate  explanation  having 
been  asked  from  the  French  Minister  of  Foreign  Relations,  he 
confirmed,  in  his  answer  of  7th  October,  1807,  the  determination 


440  WRITINGS     OF     GAL  LATIN.  1808. 

of  his  government  to  adopt  that  construction.  Its  first  applica 
tion  took  place  on  the  10th  of  the  same  month,  in  the  case  of  the 
Horizon,  of  which  the  minister  of  the  United  States  was  not 
informed  until  the  month  of  November,  and  on  the  12th  of  that 
month  he  presented  a  spirited  remonstrance  against  that  infrac 
tion  of  the  neutral  rights  of  the  United  States.  He  had  in  the 
mean  while  transmitted  to  America  the  instruction  to  the  council 
of  prizes  of  the  18th  September.  This  was  received  on  the 
of  December,  and  a  copy  of  the  decision  in  the  case  of  the  Hori 
zon  having  at  the  same  time  reached  government,  the  President, 
aware  of  the  consequences  which  would  follow  that  new  state  of 
things  [and  of  the  intentions  of  the  British  government  to  ex 
tend  at  all  events  what  was  called  retaliating  measures],1  com 
municated  immediately  to  Congress  the  alterations  of  the  French 
decree,  and  recommended  the  embargo,  which  was  accordingly 
laid  on  the  22d  December,  1807;  at  which  time  it  was  well 
understood  in  this  country  that  the  British  orders  of  council 
of  November  preceding  had  been  issued,  although  they  were  not 
officially  communicated  to  our  government. 

On  the  llth  November  preceding,  the  British  orders  of  coun 
cil  had  been  issued,  declaring  that  all  the  ports  of  France,  of  her 
allies,  and  of  any  other  country  at  war  with  England,  and  all 
other  ports  of  Europe  from  which,  although  not  at  war  with 
England,  the  British  flag  was  excluded,  should  thenceforth  be 
considered  as  if  the  same  were  actually  blockaded;  that  all  trade 
in  articles  of  the  produce  or  manufacture  of  the  said  countries 
should  be  deemed  unlawful;,  and  that  every  vessel  trading 
from  or  to  the  said  countries,  together  with  all  goods  and  mer 
chandise  on  board,  and  also  all  articles  of  the  produce  or  manu 
facture  of  the  said  countries,  should  be  liable  to  capture  and 
condemnation. 

These  orders  cannot  be  defended  on  the  ground  of  their  being 
intended  as  retaliating  on  account  of  the  Berlin  decree,  as  con 
strued  and  uniformly  executed  from  its  date  to  the  18th  Sep 
tember,  1807,  its  construction  and  execution  having  till  then 
infringed  no  neutral  rights.  For  certainly  the  monstrous  doc- 

1  Omitted  in  the  printed  report. 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  441 

trine  will  not  be  asserted  even  by  the  British  government  that 
neutral  nations  are  bound  to  resist  not  only  the  acts  of  bel 
ligerent  powers  which  violate  their  rights,  but  also  those  mu 
nicipal  regulations  which,  however  they  may  injure  the  enemy, 
are  lawful,  and  do  not  affect  the  legitimate  rights  of  the  neutral. 
The  only  retaliation  to  be  used  in  such  cases  must  be  such  as 
will  operate  on  the  enemy  without  infringing  the  rights  of  the 
neutral.  If  solely  intended  as  a  retaliation  on  the  Berlin  de 
cree  as  executed  prior  to  the  month  of  September,  the  British 
orders  of  council  should  have  been  confined  to  forbidding  the 
introduction  into  Great  Britain  of  French  or  enemy's  merchan 
dise,  and  the  admission  into  British  ports  of  neutral  vessels 
coming  from  a  French  or  other  enemy's  port.  Indeed,  the 
ground  of  retaliation  on  account  of  any  culpable  acquiescence 
of  neutrals  in  decrees  violating  their  rights  is  abandoned  by 
the  very  tenor  of  the  orders,  their  operation  being  extended  to 
those  countries  from  which  the  British  flag  was  excluded, — such 
as  Austria, — although  such  countries  were  neither  at  war  with 
Great  Britain  nor  had  passed  any  decree  in  any  way  affecting 
or  connected  with  neutral  rights. 

Nor  are  the  orders  justifiable  on  the  pretence  of  an  acqui 
escence  on  the  part  of  the  United  States  in  the  French  decree 
as  construed  and  executed  subsequent  to  the  18th  September, 
1807,  when  it  became  an  evident  infraction  of  their  rights,  and 
such  as  they  were  bound  to  oppose.  For  their  minister  at  Paris 
immediately  made  the  necessary  remonstrances,  and  the  orders 
were  issued  not  only  without  having  ascertained  whether  the 
United  States  would  acquiesce  in  the  injurious  alteration  of  the 
French  decree,  but  more  than  one  month  before  that  altera 
tion  was  known  in  America.  It  may  even  be  asserted  that 
the  alteration  was  not  known  in  England  when  the  orders  of 
council  were  issued,  the  instruction  of  the  18th  September, 
1807,  which  gave  the  new  and  injurious  construction,  not 
having  been  promulgated  in  France,  and  its  first  publication 
having  been  made  in  December,  1807,  and  by  the  American 
government  itself. 

The  British  orders  of  council  are  therefore  unjustifiable  on 
the  principle  of  retaliation,  even  giving  to  that  principle  all  the 


442  WRITINGS    OF     GAL  LATIN.  1808. 

latitude  which  has  ever  been  avowedly  contended  for.  They 
are  in  open  violation  of  the  solemn  declaration  made  by  the 
British  ministers  in  December,  1806,  that  retaliation  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain  would  depend  on  the  execution  of  an 
unlawful  decree  and  on  the  acquiescence  of  neutral  nations  in 
such  infraction  of  their  rights.  And  they  were  also  issued  not 
withstanding  the  official  communication  made  by  the  ministers 
of  the  United  States  that  the  French  decree  was  construed  and 
executed  so  as  not  to  infringe  their  neutral  rights,  and  without 
any  previous  notice  or  intimation  denying  the  correctness  of 
that  statement.  The  Berlin  decree  as  expounded  and  executed 
subsequent  to  the  18th  September,  1807,  and  the  British  orders 
of  council  of  the  llth  November  ensuing,  are  therefore,  as 
they  affect  the  United  States,  contemporaneous  aggressions  of 
the  belligerent  powers,  equally  unprovoked  and  equally  in 
defensible  on  the  presumed  ground  of  acquiescence.  These, 
together  with  the  Milan  decree  of  December,  1807,  which 
filled  the  measure,  would,  on  the  principle  of  self-defence,  have 
justified  immediate  hostilities  against  both  nations  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States.  They  thought  it  more  eligible  in  the 
first  instance,  by  withdrawing  their  vessels  from  the  ocean, 
to  avoid  war,  at  least  for  a  season,  and  at  the  same  time  to 
snatch  their  immense  and  defenceless  commerce  from  impend 
ing  destruction. 

Another  appeal  has  in  the  mean  time  been  made,  under  the 
authority  vested  in  the  President  for  that  purpose,  to  the  jus 
tice  and  true  interest  of  France  and  England.  The  propositions 
made  by  the  United  States  and  the  arguments  urged  by  their 
ministers  are  before  Congress.  By  these  the  very  pretext  of 
the  illegal  edicts  was  removed ;  and  it  is  evident  that  a  revoca 
tion  by  either  nation  on  the  ground  on  which  it  was  asked,  either 
must  have  produced  what  both  pretended  to  have  in  view,  a  res 
toration  of  the  freedom  of  commerce  and  of  the  acknowledged 
principles  of  the  law  of  nations,  or,  in  case  of  refusal  by  the 
other  belligerent,  would  have  carried  into  effect  in  the  most 
efficient  manner  the  ostensible  object  of  the  edicts  and  made  the 
United  States  a  party  in  the  war  against  him.  The  effort  has 
been  ineffectual.  The  propositions  have  been  actually  rejected 


1808.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  443 

by  one  of  the  belligerent  powers,  and  remain  unanswered  by  the 
other.  In  that  state  of  things,  what  course  ought  the  United 
States  to  pursue  ?  Your  committee  can  perceive  no  other  alterna 
tive  but  abject  and  degrading  submission,  war  with  both  nations, 
or  a  continuance  and  enforcement  of  the  present  suspension  of 
commerce.  The  first  cannot  require  any  discussion.  But  the 
pressure  of  the  embargo,  so  sensibly  felt,  and  the  calamities  in 
separable  from  a  state  of  war,  naturally  create  a  wish  that  some 
middle  course  might  be  discovered  which  should  avoid  the  evils 
of  both  and  not  be  inconsistent  with  national  honor  and  inde 
pendence.  That  illusion  must  be  dissipated,  and  it  is  necessary 
that  the  people  of  the  United  States  should  fully  understand 
the  situation  in  which  they  are  placed. 

There  is  no  other  alternative  but  war  with  both  nations  or  a 
continuance  of  the  present  system.  For  wrar  with  one  of  the 
belligerents  only  would  be  submission  to  the  edicts  and  will  of 
the  other;  and  a  repeal,  in  whole  or  in  part,  of  the  embargo 
must  necessarily  be  war  or  submission. 

A  general  repeal  without  arming  would  be  submission  to  both 
nations.  A  general  repeal  and  arming  of  our  merchant  vessels 
would  be  war  with  both,  and  war  of  the  worst  kind,  suffering 
the  enemy  to  plunder  us  without  retaliation  upon  them. 

A  partial  repeal  must,  from  the  situation  of  Europe,  neces 
sarily  be  actual  submission  to  one  of  the  aggressors  and  war 
with  the  other. 

The  last  position  is  the  only  one  on  which  there  can  be  any 
doubt,  and  it  will  be  most  satisfactorily  demonstrated  by  select 
ing  amongst  the  several  modifications  which  might  be  suggested 
that  which  may  on  first  view  appear  the  least  exceptionable;  a 
proposition  to  repeal  the  embargo  so  far  only  as  relates  to  those 
powers  which  have  not  passed  or  do  not  execute  any  decrees 
injurious  to  the  neutral  rights  of  the  United  States. 

It  is  said  that  the  adoption  of  that  proposition  would  restore 
our  commerce  with  the  native  powers  of  Asia  and  Africa,  and 
with  Spain,  Portugal,  Sweden,  and  Russia.  Let  this  be  taken 
for  granted,  although  the  precise  line  of  conduct  now  pursued 
by  most  of  those  nations  in  relation  to  the  United  States  is  not 
correctly  ascertained.  So  far  as  relates  to  any  advantages  which 


444  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

would  result  from  that  measure  if  confined  to  its  ostensible 
object,  it  will  be  sufficient  to  observe  that  the  exports  of  articles 
of  the  domestic  produce  of  the  United  States  during  the  year 
ending  the  30th  September,  1807,  amounted  to  §48,700,000, 
and  that  the  portion  exported  to  the  countries  above  enumerated 
falls  short  of  $7,000,000, — an  amount  too  inconsiderable,  when 
compared  with  the  bulk  of  our  exports,  to  deserve  attention, 
even  if  a  question  affecting  the  independence  of  the  nation  was 
to  be  decided  by  considerations  of  immediate  profit. 

But  the  true  effect  of  the  proposition  would  be  to  open  an 
indirect  trade  with  Great  Britain,  which,  through  St.  Bar 
tholomew  and  Havana,  Lisbon,  Cadiz,  or  Gottenburg,  would 
receive,  at  prices  reduced  by  glutted  markets  and  for  want  of 
competition,  all  the  provisions,  naval  stores,  raw  materials  for 
her  manufactures,  and  other  articles,  which  she  may  want. 
Whether  she  would  be  satisfied  with  that  favorable  state  of 
things,  or  whether,  considering  that  boon  as  a  pledge  of  un 
qualified  submission,  she  would,  according  to  the  tenor  of  her 
orders,  interrupt  our  scanty  commerce  with  Russia,  and  occa 
sionally,  under  some  new  pretext,  capture,  rather  than  purchase, 
the  cargoes  intended  for  her  own  use,  is  equally  uncertain  and 
unimportant.  Nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  a  measure  which 
would  supply  exclusively  one  of  the  belligerents  would  be  war 
with  the  other.  Considered  merely  as  a  question  of  profit,  it 
would  be  much  more  eligible  at  once  to  raise  the  embargo  in 
relation  to  Great  Britain,  as  we  would  then  at  least  have  the 
advantages  of  a  direct  market  with  the  consumer.  But  the 
proposition  can  only  be  defended  on  the  ground  that  France  is 
the  only  aggressor,  and  that  having  no  just  reason  to  complain 
of  England,  it  is  our  duty  to  submit  t©  her  orders.  On  that 
inadmissible  supposition  it  would  not  only  be  more  candid,  but 
also  a  more  dignified  as  well  as  a  more  advantageous  course, 
openly  to  join  England  and  to  make  war  against  France.  The 
object  would  be  clearly  understood,  an  ally  would  be  obtained, 
and  the  meanness  of  submission  might  be  better  palliated. 

It  appears  unnecessary  to  pursue  any  further  the  examination 
of  propositions  which  the  difficult  situation  of  the  United  States 
could  alone  have  suggested,  and  which  will  prove  more  inad- 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  445 

missible  or  impracticable  as  the  subject  is  more  thoroughly 
investigated.  The  alternative  is  painful ;  it  is  between  a  con 
tinued  suspension  of  commerce,  and  war  with  both  England 
and  France.  But  the  choice  must  ultimately  be  made  between 
the  two,  and  it  is  important  that  we  should  be  prepared  for  either 
the  one  or  the  other. 

The  aggressions  of  England  and  France  collectively,  affecting 
almost  the  whole  of  our  commerce,  and  persisted  in  notwith 
standing  repeated  remonstrances,  explanations,  and  propositions 
the  most  candid  and  unexceptionable,  are  to  all  intents  and  pur 
poses  a  maritime  war  waged  by  both  nations  against  the  United 
States.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  the  ultimate  and  only  effectual 
mode  of  resisting  that  warfare,  if  persisted  in,  is  war.  A  per 
manent  suspension  of  commerce,  after  repeated  and  unavailing 
efforts  to  obtain  peace,  would  not  properly  be  resistance ;  it 
would  be  withdrawing  from  the  contest  and  abandoning  our 
indisputable  right  freely  to  navigate  the  ocean.  The  present 
unsettled  state  of  the  world,  the  extraordinary  situation  in 
which  the  United  States  are  placed,  and  the  necessity,  if  war 
be  resorted  to,  of  making  it  at  the  same  time  against  both 
nations,  and  these  the  two  most  powerful  of  the  world,  are  the 
principal  causes  of  hesitation.  There  would  be  none  in  resort 
ing  to  that  remedy,  however  calamitous,  if  a  selection  could  be 
made  on  any  principle  of  justice  or  without  a  sacrifice  of  national 
independence. 

On  a  question  of  such  difficulty,  involving  the  most  important 
interests  of  the  Union,  and  which  has  not  perhaps  till  lately  been 
sufficiently  considered,  your  committee  think  the  House  alone 
competent  to  pronounce  a  decisive  opinion ;  and  they  have  in 
this  report  confined  themselves  to  an  exposition  of  the  subject 
and  to  such  introductory  resolutions  as  will  be  equally  ap 
plicable  to  either  alternative.  The  first  of  these,  being  merely 
declaratory  of  a  determination  not  to  submit  to  foreign  aggres 
sions,  may  perhaps  at  a  first  view  appear  superfluous.  It  is, 
however,  believed  by  the  committee  that  a  pledge  by  the  repre 
sentatives  of  the  nation  that  they  will  not  abandon  its  essential 
rights  will  not  at  this  critical  moment  be  unacceptable.  The 
misapprehensions  which  seem  to  have  existed,  and  the  misrepre- 


446  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

sentations  which  have  been  circulated  respecting  the  state  of  our 
foreign  relations,  render  also  such  declarations  expedient ;  and 
it  may  not  be  useless  that  every  foreign  nation  should  under 
stand  that  its  aggressions  never  will  be  justified  or  encouraged 
by  any  description  of  American  citizens.  For  the  question  for 
every  citizen  now  is,  whether  he  will  rally  round  the  govern 
ment  of  his  choice  or  enlist  under  foreign  banners ; — whether  he 
will  be  for  his  country  or  against  his  country. 

The  committee  respectfully  submit  the  following  resolutions : 

1.  Resolved,  That  the  United  States  cannot,  without  a  sacri 
fice  of  their  rights,  honor,  and  independence,  submit  to  the  late 
edicts  of  Great  Britain  and  France. 

2.  Resolved,  That  it  is  expedient  to   prohibit  by  law  the 
admission  into  the  ports  of  the  United  States  of  all  public  or 
private  armed  or  unarmed  ships  or  vessels  belonging  to  Great 
Britain  or  France,  or  to  any  other  of  the  belligerent  powers 
having  in  force  orders  or  decrees  violating  the  lawful  commerce 
and  neutral  rights  of  the  United  States ;  and  also  the  importa 
tion  of  any  goods,  wares,  or  merchandise  the  growth,  produce, 
or  manufacture  of  the  dominions  of  any  of  the  said  powers,  or 
imported  from  any  place  in  the  possession  of  either. 

3.  Resolved,  That  measures  ought  to  be  immediately  taken 
for  placing  the  country  in  a  more  complete  state  of  defence. 


JEFFERSON   TO   QALLATIN. 

December  14,  1808. 

Th.  Jefferson  returns  the  enclosed  report  to  Mr.  Gallatin  with 
his  entire  approbation  and  affectionate  salutations. 

P.S. — On  reconsideration,  the  use  of  the  words  "  temporary" 
and  "  permanent,"  in  the  sixth  page,  applied  to  the  embargo, 
may  give  countenance  to  the  Federal  charge  and  clamor,  as  if 
we  had  really  contemplated  it  as  a  permanent  measure;  and 
although  the  idea,  as  here  explained,  is  just,  yet  they  will  seize 


1808.  LETTERS,    ETC.  447 

and  use  the  word  without  the  explanation.  Would  not  some 
change,  as  proposed  in  the  enclosed  paper,  express  your  idea 
without  the  use  of  the  words  which  may  be  so  misrepresented  ? 

[Enclosure.] 

Paragraph  6,  line  8,  dele  "  considered  as  temporary  measures 
which  will  ultimately77  and  insert  "  after  a  certain  time  to." 

Line  12,  dele  "  shall  be  adopted  as  a  permanent  system  during 
the  continuance  of  the  existing  foreign  hostilities"  and  insert 
"  are  to  have  equal  continuance  with  the  existing  foreign  hos 
tilities/7  or  preferably,  "are  to  have  equal  continuance  with  the 
belligerent  edicts,  indefinite  as  that  is." 

Again,  paragraph  7,  line  1,  dele  "are  therefore"  and  insert 
"  need  therefore  be."1 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  28th  December,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  had  already  received  and  rejected  a  duplicate 
of  Jacob  Smith's  petition.  There  could  be  no  hesitation  in  the 
case,  as  she  is  a  vessel  owned  by  citizens  of  the  United  States, 
and  the  President  had  no  authority  to  grant  a  permission  unless 
by  virtue  of  the  power  vested  by  the  first  Embargo  Act;  and  that 
has  never  been  used  for  any  but  public  purposes.  The  vessel 
being  originally  foreign  bottom  does  not  alter  the  case.  There 
are  more  than  fifty  thousand  tons  of  shipping  of  that  description 
owned  by  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  they  are  expressly 
embraced  by  the  embargo  laws  under  their  technical  name,  viz., 
sea-letter  vessels. 

We  cannot  destroy  the  boats,  &c.,  at  St.  Mary's  without  being 
authorized  by  law  so  to  do;  and  Congress  shows  so  much  reluc 
tance  in  granting  powers  much  less  arbitrary,  that  there  is  no  ex 
pectation  of  their  giving  this.  You  will  also  perceive  by  the 


1  See  the  annual  Keport  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  dated  10th 
December,  1808. 


448  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1808. 

letters  of  the  collectors  of  Brunswick  and  Savannah  that  the 
system  of  illegal  exportations  is  carried  on  the  largest  scale, 
and  embraces  all  the  sea-coast  of  Georgia.  I  enclose  one  more 
(anonymous)  letter  on  the  subject,  but  which  adds  nothing  to 
the  information  already  possessed.  I  wrote  yesterday  to  the 
three  collectors  to  man  and  arm  a  number  of  boats  or  vessels  of 
the  description  mentioned  in  the  Savannah  letter.  I  had  already 
written  to  Mr.  Smith  stating  the  necessity  of  sending  gunboats 
amongst  those  inlets  and  islands,  and  to  the  Secretary  of  War 
requesting  if  possible  some  troops  to  guard  against  land  exporta 
tions  across  the  upper  waters  of  the  St.  Mary's.  Cotton  at  this 
moment  is  the  great  object.  Every  precaution  and  instruction 
within  the  powers  of  the  Treasury  has  been  given  in  every  direc 
tion.  Even  to  the  northward  similar  plans  are  in  operation. 
All  the  cotton  in  New  York  has  been  purchased  by  speculators 
in  Boston,  and  they  want  to  transport  it.  A  single  person  wanted 
to  ship  six  thousand  bales,  equal  to  1,800,000  pounds.  I  have 
written  to  Mr.  Gelston  not  to  permit  the  shipment  of  one  bale, 
as  there  must  be  a  plan,  though  the  details  are  not  known,  for 
its  being  illegally  exported  from  Boston.  As  to  Georgia,  I  do 
not  perceive  that  anything  more  can  be  done  than  to  send  gun 
boats  in  addition  to  our  small  revenue  boats.  For  I  am  con 
fident  that  the  attempt  to  negotiate  with  the  Governor  of  East 
Florida  would  be  fruitless. 

The  Atlanta  must  have  been  seized  by  gunboats,  in  which  case 
the  collectors  will  not  be  suffered  to  interfere,  as  the  forfeiture, 
if  any,  belongs  to  the  captors. 

No  permanent  grant  or  permission  to  settle  can  be  given  to 
the  Alabamas  without  an  Act  of  Congress.  But  as  the  President 
is  authorized  to  except  lands  from  the  sales,  he  might  perhaps 
grant  them  a  permission  revocable  at  will.  I  think  that  Congress 
would  agree  at  once  to  give  them  a  reasonable  tract.1 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

1  See  the  letter  to  which  this  is  in  answer,  in  Jefferson's  "Works,  v.  405. 


1809.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  449 


GALLATIN  TO  JOSEPH  H.  NICHOLSON. 

WASHINGTON-,  29th  December,  1808. 

DEAR  SIR,—         ******* 

William  Nicholson  is  well,  and  very  obedient,  both  to  Mrs.  G. 
and  myself.  But  the  poor  little  fellow  is  very  backward.  I  will 
do  with  him  as  well  as  I  can.  At  present,  however,  I  cannot 
attend  to  any  personal  concerns :  never  was  I  so  overwhelmed 
with  public  business.  That  would  be  nothing  if  we  went  right. 
But  a  great  confusion  and  perplexity  reigns  in  Congress.  Mr. 
Madison  is,  as  I  always  knew  him,  slow  in  taking  his  ground,; 
but  firm  when  the  storm  arises.  What  I  had  foreseen  has  taken 
place.  A  majority  will  not  adhere  to  the  embargo  much  longer;' 
and  if  war  be  not  speedily  determined  on,  submission  will  soon 
ensue.  This  entirely  between  us.  When  will  you  be  here? 
We  expect  you,  and  the  sooner  the  better.  Exclusively  of  the 
pleasure  we  always  have  in  seeing  you,  rely  upon  it  that  your 
presence  will  at  this  crisis  be  useful.  I  actually  want  time  to 
give  you  more  details,  but  I  will  only  state  that  it  is  intended 
by  the  Essex  junto  to  prevail  on  the  Massachusetts  Legislature, 
who  meet  in  two  or  three  weeks,  to  call  a  convention  of  the  five 
New  England  States,  to  which  they  will  try  to  add  New  York ; 
and  that  something  must  be  done  to  anticipate  and  defeat  that 
nefarious  plan. 

Yours  sincerely. 


GALLATIN   TO  JEFFERSON. 

DEPARTMENT  TREASURY,  January  10,  1809. 

DEAR  SIR, — It  is  necessary  to  prepare  instructions  in  con 
formity  with  the  10th  Section  of  the  new  Embargo  Act.  I 
presume  that,  the  bond  being  now  increased  to  six  times  the 
amount  of  vessel  and  cargo,  the  general  instructions  must  only 
relate  to  unusual  shipments,  either  in  quantity  or  kind ;  that  is 
to  say,  that  the  collectors  ought  not  to  permit  the  lading  or 
VOL.  i.— 30 


450  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1809. 

transportation  of  any  articles  which  it  has  been  unusual  to  ship 
to  the  ostensible  port  of  destination,  nor  in  larger  quantities 
than  has  been  usual. 

But  it  may  be  proper  to  be  more  particular  in  some  respects. 
The  most  suspicious  articles  are,  1,  cotton;  2,  lumber  and 
naval  stores;  3,  provisions,  especially  flour.  Will  any  more 
strict  instructions  be  requisite  in  relation  to  those? 

I  think  that  we  might  forbid  the  reshipment  of  either  cotton 
or  lumber;  that  is  to  say,  that  we  would  let  cotton  go  from 
Savannah  to  New  York,  but  never  from  New  York  to  any 
other  port. 

And  the  same  regulation  might  do  for  provisions,  with  few 
exceptions,  such  as  from  one  part  of  the  State  to  another,  within 
the  same  bay,  river,  or  sound,  &c. 

The  next  point  which  will  require  instructions  is  what  relates 
to  calling  military  force  or  militia,  under  the  llth  Section. 

I  perceive  no  other  mode  than  that  you  should  authorize 
each  collector,  in  the  cases  stated  in  the  section,  to  call  either  on 
military  force  of  United  States,  if  any  within  his  district,  or  on 
such  part  of  the  militia  as  he  may  himself  select.  Some  general 
caution  may  be  added. 

But  it  is  necessary  to  know  whether,  at  any  time,  militia  has 
been  called  without  first  applying  to  the  governor;  and  how  far 
it  may  be  eligible,  if  it  has  never  been  done,  to  do  it  in  this 
instance.  What  was  the  mode  pursued  under  the  Act  of  1794, 
vol.  3,  pages  91,  92? 

No  instructions  went  from  the  Treasury  in  relation  to  calling 
militia.  I  presume  that  they  were  sent  by  the  War  Depart 
ment.  Those  points  require  immediate  and  deliberate  consid 
eration,  as  we  may  expect  some  actual  resistance  in  ports  (in 
Massachusetts)  distant  from  the  governor's  residence,  and  where 
there  should  be  no  delay  in  repelling  such  forcible  opposition. 
If  it  be  concluded  to  make  the  governor  the  medium,  he  must 
be  requested  to  give  orders  in  each  collection  district  to  the 
militia  to  act  on  receiving  notification  from  the  collectors. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


1809.  LETTERS,    ETC.  451 

GALLATIN   TO   JEFFEKSON. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  4th  February,  1809. 

DEAR  SIR, — Since  I  saw  you  I  have  received  the  two  enclo 
sures, — one  from  Hodge,  surveyor  of  Newburyport,  a  Federalist, 
who  had  always  done  his  duty,  and  whom  we  meant  to  preserve  ; 
the  other  from  Little,  a  moderate  Federalist,  who  confirms  the 
bad  character  of  Cogswell,  and  speaks  in  favor  of  Marquand, 
whom  General  Dearborn  had  originally  recommended  as  collector. 

You  had  concluded  to  keep  Cross,  the  collector,  some  time 
longer,  with  a  view  to  offer  the  place  to  Varnum ;  to  appoint 
Marquand  naval  officer  instead  of  Titcomb,  a  bitter  Federalist, 
and  to  keep  Hodge  as  surveyor.  Hodge  having  now  resigned, 
a  different  arrangement  may  be  necessary  in  the  enclosed  letter 
and  list,  which  I  had  prepared  according  to  your  directions. 

As  to  Providence,  I  have  spoken  to  two  of  the  Rhode  Island 
delegation,  whose  opinion,  together  with  Mr.  Ellery's  letter  to 
me,  herein  enclosed,  and  my  own  knowledge  of  Coles  whilst 
executing  the  survey  of  the  North  Carolina  coast,  removes  any 
possible  doubt  in  that  case.  Coles  is  certainly  the  proper  person 
to  be  appointed.  Everything  is  quiet  there,  as  Mr.  Olney  in 
forms  me ;  and,  as  far  as  my  information  goes,  everything  grows 
more  quiet  in  Massachusetts  and  Maine.  All  would  be  well  if 
our  friends  remained  firm  here. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


NOTES  ON  THE   POLITICAL  SITUATION. 

February,  1809. 

Comparative  view  of  proposed  plans :  Embargo,  Non-Inter 
course,  Letters  of  Marque. 

I.  Non-intercourse   with  France  and  England,  and  general 
embargo  continued. 

II.  Non-intercourse  with  France  and  England,  and  opening 
trade  with   powers  which  have  no  injurious  decrees  in  force, 

permitting  )  i 

7.    i-ii.       r  vessels  to  arm. 

forbidding  J 


1809. 
and 


452  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN. 

III.  Letters  of  marque  and  reprisal  against  France  am 
England,  and  opening  armed  trade  with  powers  which  hav 
no  injurious  decrees  in  force. 

I.  Advantages. 

1.  Steadiness  in  persevering  in  plan  adopted. 

2.  Chances  of  favorable  events  in  Europe. 

3.  Distressing   England  and  colonies  for  want  of  our 

supplies. 

4.  Avoiding  war  for  the  present. 
Inconveniences. 

a.  Government  only  seen  in  the 

effects  produced. 

b.  Irksomeness    of    a    passive 

state. 

c.  Artificial  effect  produced  by 

British  faction. 

2.  Impracticability  of  effectually  carrying  it  into  effect. 

3.  Habits  of  smuggling  and  disobeying  the  law. 

1.  Not    producing   sufficient   distress 

on  E.  and  F. 

2.  Answering  their  views  of  destroy 

ing  our  navigation  or  commerce 
generally,  which  will  increase 
its  unpopularity,  and  may  ulti 
mately  force  a  repeal. 

5.  Rather  withdrawing  from  the  contest  than  positive 

resistance ;  real  evils  will  increase. 

6.  Destruction  of  commerce  and  revenue. 


1, 


have  rendered  the 
measure  unpop 
ular,  New  Eng 
land,  New  York, 
Maryland,  North 
Carolina. 


4.  Permanence.  -; 


II.  Advantages. 

1.  Remove,  or  much  lessen,  the  inconveniences  of  the 

general  embargo  system. 

2.  Does  not  necessarily  lead  to  war,  and  preserves  advan 

tages  from  chances  of  changes  in  Europe. 

3.  Will  probably  cause  war  only  with  one,  and  that  made 

on  us  and  not  by  us. 

4.  A  greater  chance  of  unity  at  home. 


1809.  LETTERS,    ETC.  453 

Inconveniences. 

1.  If  England  choose  to  make  it,  war  will  expose  our 

trade  to  a  sweep. 

2.  Will  furnish  England  with  what  supplies  she  wants 

from  us,  and  be  submission. 

3.  May  (from  the  unequal  effect  produced)  probably  lead 

to  war  with  France. 


III.  Advantages. 

1.  Removes  several  of  the  inconveniences  of  the  em 

bargo. 

2.  Positive  resistance ;  displays  a  higher  national  spirit ; 

better  calculated  to  prevent  future  insults. 

3.  Commenced  with  all  our  resources  of  trade  in,  and 

unexpended  treasure.      These  swept  under  II,  1; 
that  gone  in  one  year  under  I. 
Inconveniences. 

1.  War  with  both,  friendly  with  none. 

2.  Want  of  preparation. 

3.  Loses  the  chances  of  changes  in  Europe,  I,  2. 

4.  Uncertainty  of  result  at  home  and  abroad. 


JEFFERSOX  TO  GALLATIN. 

February  22,  1809. 

Th.  J.  to  Mr.  Gallatin. 

Have  you  obtained  the  name  and  character  of  the  son  of 
Madame  Bonneville  ?  I  believe  there  remains  a  single  vacancy 
of  a  cadet.  It  seems  extremely  difficult  to  say  what  had  best 
be  done  as  to  militia  at  New  London.  I  am  assured  that  if  I 
designate  a  militia  officer  there,  the  Legislature  now  meeting 
will  immediately  remove  him.  Perhaps  the  proper  way  to  insure 
an  effectual  enforcement  would  be  to  remove  Huntington ;  but 
I  know  too  little  of  him  to  judge  correctly  of  that  measure. 
Affectionate  salutations. 


454  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1809. 


GALLATIN  TO    GENERAL   SAMUEL   SMITH. 
i 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  June  29,  1809. 

SIR, — I  received  the  day  before  yesterday  your  letter  of  26th 
instant,  enclosing  two  Baltimore  papers. 

I  have  no  other  knowledge  of  the  circumstances  connected 
with  the  naval  agency  of  Degen  and  Purviance  than  what  is 
derived  from  their  account  as  stated  by  the  accountant  of  the 
Navy  Department.  The  transaction,  such  as  it  appears  there, 
is,  under  all  its  aspects,  the  most  extraordinary  that  has  fallen 
within  my  knowledge  since  I  have  been  in  this  Department. 
It  has  certainly  left  very  unfavorable  impressions  on  my  mind, 
and  these  have  on  one  occasion  been  communicated  verbally  to 
a  friend.  Yet  I  hardly  need  say  that  I  never  supposed  that  the 
bills  had  been  sold  to  government  for  the  purpose  "  of  securing 
a  debt  which  you  then  considered  bad,  and  of  thus  throwing 
the  loss  on  the  United  States."  But  I  did  believe  that  you  had 
drawn  without  having  previously  placed  sufficient  funds  in  the 
hands  of  Degen  and  Purviance,  and  that  they  had  accepted  your 
bills  and  passed  the  amount  to  the  credit  of  the  United  States 
without  having  at  the  time  in  their  hands  sufficient  funds  belong 
ing  to  you.  That  this  was  my  impression  you  will  perceive  by 
the  enclosed  extract  of  a  letter  to  Mr.  Armstrong ;  and  Mr. 
Purviance's  statement,  which  you  enclosed  to  me,  shows  that  I 
was  not  mistaken.  I  do  not  intend  to  comment  on  this  and 
other  circumstances  of  the  case.  Taking  them  altogether,  I  have 
believed  that,  if  we  failed  in  our  endeavors  to  recover  the  money 
from  Degen  and  from  Mr.  Purviance,  we  might  have  recourse 
against  the  drawers  of  the  bills. 

I  am,  sir,  &c. 


MADISON   TO  GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIER,  July  28,  1809. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  yours  of  the  24th.  The  con 
duct  of  the  British  government  in  protesting  the  arrangement 
of  its  minister  surprises  one,  in  spite  of  all  their  examples  of  folly. 


1809.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  455 

If  it  be  not  their  plan,  now  that  they  have  filled  their  magazines 
with  our  supplies,  and  ascertained  our  want  of  firmness  in  with 
holding  them,  to  adopt  openly  a  system  of  monopoly  and  piracy, 
it  may  be  hoped  that  they  will  not  persist  in  the  scandalous 
course  in  which  they  have  set  out.  Supposing  Erskine  to  have 
misunderstood  or  overstrained  his  instructions,  can  the  differ 
ence  between  our  trading  directly  and  indirectly  with  Holland 
account  for  the  violent  remedy  applied  to  the  case  ?  Is  it  not 
more  probable  that  they  have  yielded  to  the  clamors  of  the 
London  smugglers  in  sugar  and  coffee,  whose  numbers  and  im 
pudence  are  displayed  in  the  scandalous  and  successful  demand 
from  their  government  that  it  should  strangle  the  lawful  trade 
of  a  friendly  nation  lest  it  should  interfere  with  their  avowed 
purpose  of  carrying  on  a  smuggling  trade  with  their  enemies  ? 
Such  an  outrage  on  all  decency  was  never  before  heard  of,  even 
on  the  shores  of  Africa.  I  have  a  private  letter  of  late  date 
from  London,  which  says  it  was  whispered  that  the  Ministry 
were  inclined  to  swallow  the  pill  sent  them,  but  that  the  King 
considered  himself  as  insulted  in  what  related  to  Berkeley,  and 
positively  refused  his  consent.  This  is  not  impossible,  and  may 
assist  in  explaining  the  phenomenon.  Still,  I  cannot  but  hope, 
on  the  supposition  that  there  be  no  predetermined  hostility 
against  our  commerce  and  navigation,  that  things  may  take 
another  turn,  under  the  influence  of  the  obvious  and  striking 
considerations  which  advise  it.  The  sudden  disavowal  of  Er 
skine  by  the  Ministry  took  place  in  a  moment  of  alarm  at  the 
situation  in  which  it  placed  them  ;  and  the  confusion  is  strongly 
marked  on  the  expedient  resorted  to.  Whilst  they  acknowledge 
the  obligation  to  save  the  American  merchants  from  the  snare, 
they  not  only  leave  it  open  for  those  not  going  directly  from  the 
United  States,  but  take  no  notice  of  the  Mediterranean  ports 
opened  by  the  arrangement  and  shut  by  their  decree.  This  is 
another  presumption  that  the  Holland  market  alone  was  in  their 
thoughts,  and  that  on  account  of  the  smugglers  who  awed  them. 
In  answer  to  a  letter  to  Mr.  Smith,  I  have  made  a  few  ob 
servations  on  the  several  points  for  consideration ;  declining  a 
return  to  Washington  as  not  necessary,  but  awaiting  the  result 
of  your  consultations  on  that  as  on  other  subjects.  I  venture  to 


456  WKITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1809. 

hope  that  my  return  will  not  be  found  necessary ;  the  less  so  as 
you  will  be  able  to  bring  with  you  so  full  a  view  of  the  state  of 
things,  and  the  sentiments  of  your  colleagues,  that  my  decision, 
as  far  as  necessary,  may  be  made  as  well  here  as  at  Washington. 
The  point  of  most  urgency  seems  to  be  the  effect  of  the  failure 
of  the  arrangement  on  our  commercial  relations  with  Great 
Britain.  If  the  non-intercourse  with  her  results,  and  it  be 
necessary  in  any  mode  to  take  official  notice  of  it,  I  have 
thought  the  best  to  be  that  of  a  circular  to  the  collectors,  which 
would  of  course  become  public.  Among  the  objections  to  a 
proclamation  revoking  that  of  April,  is  the  quere  whether  that 
was  not  an  act  terminating  the  power  over  the  subject  of  it. 

We  shall  calculate  on  your  setting  out  from  W.  in  a  day  or 
two  after  this  reaches  you,  and  shall  look  for  you  and  Mrs.  G. 
before  the  end  of  the  week.  If  Mr.  Rodney  should  accompany 
you,  tant  mieux. 

Accept  my  best  regards. 


MADISON   TO  GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIER,  July  30,  1809. 

DEAE  Sra, — Since  my  last  I  have  received  yours  of  the  26th. 
If  the  sketch  of  Erskine's  instructions  be  faithful,  it  shows  as 
clearly  that  Canning  was  determined  to  prevent  an  adjustment 
as  that  Erskine  was  to  effect  it.  The  proof  is  the  stronger  of 
C.'s  insidiousness,  as  he  must  'have  known  from  the  answer  of 
Mr.  Pinkney  to  the  expedient  which  would  substitute  the  cap 
ture  of  our  trade  under  our  laws  for  capture  under  British  orders, 
that  so  degrading  an  idea  would  be  received  with  disgust  and 
indignation.  I  recollect  that  the  conversation  left  Mr.  P.  under 
the  impression  that  it  would  never  be  even  urged  on  this  country, 
or  rather  that  if  it  had  before  been  seriously  entertained,  his 
treatment  of  it  had  put  it  out  of  question.  The  idea  is  indeed 
too  absurd  and  insulting  ever  to  have  been  sincerely  counted 
upon.  Recollect  the  British  language  held  against  the  Bayonne 
decree,  which  went  no  farther  than  to  derive  from  our  laws  a 
circumstantial  evidence  to  warrant  an  execution  of  their  own. 


1809.  LETTERS,    ETC.  457 

The  statement  of  conversations  with  the  heads  of  Depart 
ments  must  certainly  be  erroneously  charged  on  E.  It  seems 
impossible  that  he  could  have  so  understood  any  of  us;  particu 
larly  on  the  point  of  letting  British  ships  capture  our  vessels 
bound  to  Continental  ports. 

I  have  been  endeavoring  to  recollect  the  tenor  of  the  Act 
modifying  a  continuance  of  the  Non-Intercourse  Act,  but  can 
not  succeed  so  as  to  authorize  any  opinion  on  the  question 
whether  the  failure  of  the  British  arrangement  puts  the  Act  in 
force  as  to  her  as  well  as  to  France.  Should  this  be  the  case, 
however  apropos  it  may  be  in  some  views,  it  involves  some  very 
serious  difficulties  in  your  Department.  As  the  last  order  is  not 
even  a  temporary  fulfilment  of  the  bargain,  this  must  be  con 
sidered  as  void  ab  initio.  The  trade  under  it,  therefore,  is  not 
only  unlawful  since  the  20th  of  July,  but  all  the  direct  exports 
and  imports,  and  all  the  indirect  imports  of  British  productions, 
previous  to  that  date  are  retrospectively  condemned ;  this  con 
sequence  seems  the  more  inevitable,  inasmuch  as  a  temporary 
compliance,  if  commensurate  with  the  range  of  the  bargain, 
could  not  give  it  even  a  temporary  validity,  an  unqualified 
compliance  being  an  essential  condition  on  both  sides,  and 
actually  executed  on  ours. 

From  this  view  of  the  case,  I  am  extremely  anxious  to  learn 
what  is  ascertained  to  be  the  true  construction  of  the  Act ;  the 
more  so  as  there  is  reason  to  dread  that  a  restoration  and  retro 
spective  execution  of  the  Non-Intercourse  Act  against  Great 
Britain  may  be  made  pretext  by  her  for  a  general  warfare  on 
the  extensive  property  already  exposed  to  it.  The  effect  which 
this  will  have  on  our  merchants,  and  through  them  on  the  pub 
lic,  makes  the  Executive  responsibility,  particularly  that  of  Mr. 
Rodney,  singularly  delicate.  It  would  be  fortunate  if  the  case 
could  at  once  be  brought  before  Congress.  As  this  is  impossible, 
it  remains  to  be  decided  whether  the  short  anticipation  of  their 
meeting  which  is  practicable  will  recommend  or  not  an  extra 
call.  The  main  body  of  the  difficulties  must  unavoidably  pre 
cede  the  effect  of  it.  I  hope  by  the  next  mail,  which  comes  on 
Wednesday,  to  be  advised  on  this  subject,  as  well  as  on  that  of 
my  return  to  the  city. 


458  WRITINGS    OF     GALL  AT  IN.  1809. 

I  observe  in  the  newspapers  a  loud  outcry  against  Jackson,  as 
proscribed  by  his  diplomatic  enormities,  and  inadmissible  as  a 
public  minister  here.  I  do  not  know  or  recollect  enough  of  his 
history  to  decide  on  his  character.  My  general  impression  is 
that  he  has  been  represented  by  King  as  arrogant  in  his  temper 
and  manners,  and  that  he  has  been  an  instrument  in  certain 
offensive  transactions.  Under  the  latter  aspect,  the  objection 
lies  to  his  masters  more  than  to  him.  If  there  be  personal 
objections  of  any  sort  to  him,  he  might  be  rejected  on  that 
ground  without  just  offence  to  his  government.  But  unless  his 
demerits  be  very  flagrant,  such  indeed  as  to  mark  his  mission 
as  obviously  disrespectful,  a  refusal  to  receive  him  would  make 
both  the  man  and  the  mission  of  too  much  importance,  to  say 
nothing  of  the  purposes  to  which  it  might  be  perverted.  In 
the  mean  time,  the  choice  of  such  a  man  to  heal  the  wound  in 
our  relations  does  not  look  well.  It  would  be  refining  too 
much,  perhaps,  to  suspect  that  he  was  chosen  to  be  rejected. 
But  it  is  certainly  not  so,  to  believe  that  he  would  not  have 
been  chosen  if  the  mission  was  bona  fide  meant  to  be  a  con 
ciliatory  one.  The  death  of  Judge  Dnckett,  communicated  by 
Mr.  Duval,  calls  for  a  successor.  As  you  are  so  near  Mr. 
Duval,  will  you  ascertain  his  idea  of  the  most  proper  one,  par 
ticularly  of  Mr.  Alexander  Scott,  of  Georgetown,  recommended 
from  very  respectable  quarters?  Ascertain  also  whether  the 
cause  of  business  makes  it  material  that  the  vacancy  be  filled 
before  the  meeting  of  Congress. 

Accept  my  sincere  regards. 


GALLATIN   TO   D.  M.  ERSKINE,  BRITISH  MINISTER. 

WASHINGTON,  13th  August,  1809. 

SIR, — I  do  not  believe  that  in  the  conversations  we  have  had 
respecting  the  practicability  of  an  adjustment  of  the  differences 
between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  we  ever  have  mis 
understood  one  another.  Yet,  as  from  Mr.  Canning's  instruc 
tions  lately  published  by  your  government,  it  would  seem  that 


1809.  LETTEES,    ETC.  459 

some  opinions  were  ascribed  to  several  members  of  this  Admin 
istration  which  they  did  not  entertain,  it  appears  necessary  to 
ascertain  whether  on  any  point  a  misapprehension  can  have 
taken  place. 

I  will  forbear  making  any  observations  on  what  in  the  in 
structions  is  called  the  third  condition,  since  it  is  not  asserted 
that  that  inadmissible  proposition  was  suggested  at  Washing 
ton. 

The  points  embraced  in  Mr.  Canning's  first  proposition  formed 
the  principal  topic  of  our  conversations  relative  to  a  revocation 
of  the  orders  in  council.  Yet,  in  the  manner  in  which  that 
proposition  is  expressed,  it  goes  farther  than  had  been  suggested 
by  the  members  of  this  Administration.  It  is  sufficiently  evi 
dent,  from  the  proceedings  of  Congress  both  previous  and  sub 
sequent  to  the  unratified  agreement  of  April  last,  that  the  United 
States  intended  to  continue  the  restrictions  on  the  commercial 
intercourse  with  France  whilst  such  of  her  decrees  as  violated 
our  neutral  rights  continued  in  force,  and  to  remove  those  re 
strictions  in  relation  to  Great  Britain  in  the  event  of  a  revocation 
of  the  orders  in  council.  But  that  state  of  things,  so  far  as  it 
related  to  France,  was  to  result  from  our  own  laws,  known 
or  anticipated  by  your  government  when  they  authorized  an 
arrangement ;  and  it  was  not  proposed  by  us  that  the  con 
tinuance  of  the  non-intercourse  with  France  should  be  made  a 
condition  of  that  arrangement.  Whilst  on  that  subject,  I  will 
add  an  observation,  though  perhaps  not  immediately  connected 
with  the  object  of  this  letter.  I  think  that  the  object  of  that 
proposition,  so  far  as  it  agreed  with  your  previous  understand 
ing  of  the  intentions  of  this  government,  has  been  substantially 
carried  into  effect  on  our  part.  It  is  true  that  your  government 
might,  at  the  date  of  the  instructions,  have  expected,  from  the 
incipient  proceedings  of  Congress,  that  Holland  would  be  em 
braced  by  the  restrictive  lawrs  of  the  United  States.  Not  only, 
however,  was  the  omission  nominal,  since  American  vessels  wrere 
at  the  time,  by  the  decrees  of  that  country,  refused  admission 
into  its  ports,  but,  under  the  same  construction  of  our  laws  by 
which  the  commercial  intercourse  with  Holland  was  permitted, 
that  with  Portugal  was  also  considered  as  legal  in  the  event  of 


460  WRITINGS     OF     GALL  ATI  N\  1809. 

that  country  being  occupied  by  British  troops  in  the  name  of  the 
Prince  Regent. 

It  is  therefore  principally  as  respects  the  second  condition, 
which  relates  to  the  colonial  trade,  that  erroneous  inferences 
might  be  drawn  from  the  expressions  used  in  Mr.  Canning's 
instructions.  Although  the  subject  must  have  been  mentioned 
here  incidentally,  and  only  in  a  transient  manner,  as  it  is  one 
to  which  I  had  paid  particular  attention,  and  on  which  my 
opinion  had  never  varied,  I  think  that  I  can  state  with  precision 
in  what  view  I  have  always  considered  it  and  must  have  alluded 
to  it, 

1st.  I  never  could  have  given  countenance  to  an  opinion  that 
the  United  States  would  agree  or  that  it  would  be  proper  to 
make  any  arrangement  whatever  respecting  the  colonial  trade 
a  condition  of  the  revocation  of  the  orders  in  council.  The  two 
subjects  were  altogether  unconnected,  and  I  am  confident  that 
such  a  proposition  was  never  suggested  either  by  you  or  by  any 
member  of  this  Administration.  Such  an  arrangement  could 
be  effected  only  by  treaty ;  and  it  is  with  a  considerable  degree 
of  surprise  that  I  see  your  government  now  asking  not  only 
resistance  to  the  French  decrees,  but  the  abandonment  of  a 
branch  of  our  commerce,  as  the  price  of  the  revocation  of  the 
orders  in  council.  This  seems  to  give  a  new  character  to  a 
measure  which  had  heretofore  been  represented  as  an  act  of 
retaliation  reluctantly  adopted,  and  had  been  defended  solely 
on  the  ground  of  a  supposed  acquiescence  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States  in  the  injurious 'decrees  of  another  nation. 

2d.  In  the  event  of  a  treaty  embracing  all  the  points  in  dis 
pute,  and  particularly  that  of  impressments,  without  which  I 
trust  no  treaty  will  ever  take  place,  it  was  my  opinion,  and  I 
may  certainly  have  expressed  it,  that  if  the  other  subjects  of 
difference  were  arranged,  that  respecting  the  colonial  trade 
would  be  easily  adjusted.  I  had  considered  the  principles 
recognized  in  a  former  correspondence  between  Lord  Hawkes- 
bury  and  Mr.  King  on  the  subject  of  the  colonial  trade,  and 
subsequently  again  adopted  in  the  treaty  negotiated  by  Messrs. 
Monroe  and  Pinkney,  as  a  general  basis  agreed  on  under  dif 
ferent  Administrations  by  both  governments,  from  which  neither 


1809.  LETTERS,    ETC.  461 

could  now  recede,  and  susceptible  only  of  modifications  as  to 
details.  The  instructions  to  our  ministers  in  London  on  that 
subject  had  also  been  published,  and  were  known  to  your  gov 
ernment.  I  therefore  believed  that  the  United  States,  in  the 
event  of  a  treaty,  would  still  be  disposed  to  waive  for  the 
present,  in  the  manner  and  on  the  terms  contemplated  by  those 
instructions,  their  right  to  that  branch,  and  to  that  branch  only, 
of  the  colonial  trade  known  by  the  name  of  direct  trade, — that  is 
to  say,  the  trade  carried  directly  from  belligerent  colonies  to  the 
belligerents  in  Europe, — when  that  trade  was  not  permanently 
in  peace,  as  in  war,  permitted  by  the  laws  of  the  country  to  which 
these  colonies  belonged.  The  right  to  a  trade  between  such  col 
onies  and  the  United  States  generally,  and  to  that  in  colonial 
articles  between  the  United  States  and  other  countries,  never 
can,  nor  will,  in  my  opinion,  be  abandoned  or  its  exercise  be 
suspended  by  this  government.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  solely 
in  order  to  secure,  by  an  express  treaty  stipulation,  that  trade 
against  the  danger  of  interruption,  and  thus  by  a  mutual  spirit 
of  accommodation  to  avoid  collisions,  that  the  abandonment  of 
the  direct  branch  can  ever  be  assented  to. 

Permit  me,  therefore,  to  request  that  you  will  inform  me 
whether  you  understood  me  on  those  two  points  as  I  certainly 
meant  to  be  understood;  namely,  that  the  relinquishment  during 
the  present  war  of  what  is  called  the  direct  trade  was  alone 
contemplated,  and  that  no  arrangement  on  that  subject  was 
suggested  as  a  condition  of  the  revocation  of  the  orders  in 
council. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c. 


GALLATIN  TO   MADISON. 

llth  September,  1809. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  did  not  write  till  I  could  inform  you  where  I 
was  going ;  as  otherwise  I  had  nothing  to  communicate.  The 
lameness  of  my  horses  and  the  late  season  have  induced  me  to 
give  up  my  Western  excursion,  instead  of  which  I  will  treat 


462  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1809. 

Mrs.  Gallatin  with  a  short  visit  to  her  mother  in  New  York. 
We  will  be  there  about  the  21st  inst.,  remain  a  week,  and  return 
so  as  to  be  here  about  2d  or  3d  of  October.  I  do  not  think  that 
there  is  any  necessity  to  hurry  yourself  beyond  your  convenience 
in  returning  here.  It  will  be  as  well  the  10th  as  the  1st  of 
October.  For  I  am  sure,  although  I  have  not  seen  Mr.  Jack 
son,  and  can  judge  only  from  what  has  passed  between  him  and 
Mr.  Smith,  that  he  has  nothing  to  say  of  importance  or  pleasant. 
I  think,  on  the  contrary,  that  the  present  delay  is  favorable.  It 
may  give  us  time  to  hear  the  result,  or  prospect,  of  Mr.  Arm 
strong's  negotiation  with  France,  and  it  may  give  Mr.  Jackson 
time  to  receive  more  favorable  instructions,  issued  after  the  late 
events  in  Germany. 

It  appears  to  me  very  clear  that  a  peace  there  will  imme 
diately  take  place  without  the  annihilation  or  any  capital  reduc 
tion  of  the  power  of  Austria  being  made  a  condition  of  it.  This 
is  the  most  favorable  possible  result  for  us.  There  will  still  re^- 
main  sufficient  strength  in  the  north  of  Europe  to  make  it  an 
object  with  Bonaparte,  and  even  with  England,  to  soothe  those 
powers  as  far  as  consistent  with  their  general  system.  And  it 
is  probable  that  if  everything  is  and  remains  quiet  on  the 
Continent  of  Europe,  and  if  Spain  is  reduced,  that  England 
will  be  pushed  so  hard  that  they  will  be  compelled  to  do  us 
some  justice. 

With  respectful  attachment,  yours. 


MADISON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIEK,  September  25,  1809. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  acquaint 
ing  me  with  your  proposed  trip  to  New  York.  I  had  entered 
into  the  same  train  of  ideas  with  yours  as  to  the  probable  state 
of  Jackson's  situation  and  wishes.  It  is  difficult,  at  the  same 
time,  to  reconcile  them  with  the  tenor  of  Canning's  last  conver 
sation  with  Pinkney,  especially  as  Erskine's  defensive  explana 
tions  accompanying  his  arrangement  must  have  suggested  to  C. 


1809.  LETTERS.    ETC.  463 

the  probability  of  the  actual  continuance  of  the  non-intercourse 
against  France,  and  the  propriety  of  accommodating  his  in 
structions  to  such  a  state  of  things.  On  the  other  hand,  how 
account  for  Jackson's  apparent  patience  and  reserve,  without 
supposing  that  his  authorized  disclosures  would  riot  be  either 
operative  or  agreeable?  I  propose  to  set  out  about  the  29th, 
and  to  be  in  Washington  on  Sunday  next.  Be  assured  always 
of  my  sincere  and  affectionate  respect. 


GALLATIX   TO   GOVERNOR  W.  H.  HARRISON. 

WASHINGTON,  27th  September,  1809. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  on  my  return  from  a  short  excursion 
found  your  private  letter  of  29th  ult.  I  was  and  still  am 
decidedly  opposed  to  the  introduction  of  slavery  into  any  part 
of  the  Union  where  it  does  not  exist  or  can  be  checked.  But 
this  is  a  subject  on  which  I  differ  in  opinion  with  many  valuable 
friends ;  and  it  is  with  great  regret  that  I  find  that  a  difference  of 
opinion  on  that  point  should  have  produced  anything  like  per 
sonal  hostility  between  you  and  my  friend  Badollet.  In  justice 
to  him  I  must  say  that  he  has  never  written  to  me  disrespectfully 
of  you  or  against  you.  He  once  barely  stated  the  fact  of  his 
being  opposed  to  you  on  the  subject  of  slavery;  and  I  am  con 
fident  that  no  application  or  even  hint  will  come  from  him  to 
me  suggesting  that  another  governor  ought  to  be  appointed. 
On  that  subject  my  opinion  may  not  perhaps  even  be  asked; 
but  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  it  is  in  favor  of  your 
reappointment. 

As  to  Mr.  John  Randolph,  he  certainly  admires  the  British 
nation  more  than  I  do;  and  I  think  that  some  of  his  speeches 
respecting  our  foreign  relations  have  been  very  wrong  and  have 
done  some  injury  to  America.  But  I  never  said  what  I  am  sure 
is  false,  that  he  was  under  British  influence.  No  man  is  more 
free  of  extraneous  influence  of  any  kind  than  he  is. 

I  am,  &c. 


464  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1809. 


GALLATIN  TO  JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  November  8,  1809. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  perused  your  affectionate  letter  of  the  llth  ult.1 
with  lively  sensations  of  pleasure,  excited  by  that  additional 
evidence  of  your  continued  kindness  and  partiality.  To  have 
acquired  and  preserved  your  friendship  and  confidence  is  more 
than  sufficient  to  console  me  for  some  late  personal  mortifica 
tions,  though  I  will  not  affect  to  conceal  that  these,  coming 
from  an  unexpected  quarter,  and  being,  as  I  thought,  unmerited, 
wounded  my  feelings  more  deeply  than  I  had  at  first  been  aware 
of.  [Had  I  listened  only  to  those  feelings.  I  would  have  resigned 
and  probably  taken  this  winter  a  seat  in  Congress,  which,  as  a 
personal  object,  would  have  been  much  more  pleasing  than  my 
present  situation,  and  also  better  calculated  to  regain  the  ground 
which,  to  my  surprise,  I  found  I  had  lost,  at  least  in  one  of 
the  branches  of  the  Legislature.  After  mature  consideration,  I 
relinquished  the  idea,  at  least  for  that  time,  in  a  great  degree  on 
account  of  my  personal  attachment  to  Mr.  Madison,  which  is  of 
old  standing,  I  am  sure  reciprocal,  and  strengthened  from  greater 
intimacy;  and  also  because  I  mistrusted  my  own  judgment,  and 
doubted  whether  I  was  not  more  useful  where  I  was  than  I  could 
be  as  a  member  of  Congress.  All  this  passed  in  my  mind  before 
the  last  session,  and  the  communication  which  I  made  to  you  at 
Monticello  arose  from  subsequent  circumstances.]2 

Yet  I  can  assure  you  that  Twill  not  listen  to  those  feelings  in 
forming  a  final  determination  on  the  subject  on  which  I  con 
versed  with  you  at  Monticello.  The  gratitude  and  duty  I  owe 
to  the  country  which  has  received  me  and  honored  me  beyond 
my  deserts,  the  deep  interest  I  feel  in  its  future  welfare  and 
prosperity,  the  confidence  placed  by  Mr.  Madison  in  me,  my 
personal  and  sincere  attachment  for  him,  the  desire  of  honorably 
acquiring  some  share  of  reputation,  every  public  and  private 
motive,  would  induce  me  not  to  abandon  my  post,  if  I  am  per- 

1  See  the  letter  of  llth  October,  1809,  in  Jefferson's  Works,  v.  477. 

2  Omitted  in  the  draft  as  sent. 


1809.  LETTERS,    ETC.  4G5 

mitted  to  retain  it,  and  if  my  remaining  in  office  can  be  of  public 
utility.  But  in  both  respects  I  have  strong  apprehensions,  to 
which  I  alluded  in  our  conversation.  It  has  seemed  to  me  from 
various  circumstances  that  those  who  thought  they  had  injured 
were  disposed  to  destroy,  and  that  they  were  sufficiently  skilful 
and  formidable  to  effect  their  object.  As  I  may  not,  however, 
perhaps  see  their  actions  with  an  unprejudiced  eye,  nothing  but 
irresistible  evidence,  both  of  the  intention  and  success,  will  make 
me  yield  to  that  consideration.  But  if  that  ground  which  you 
have  so  forcibly  presented  to  my  view  is  deserted;  if  those  prin 
ciples  which  we  have  uniformly  asserted  and  which  were  suc 
cessfully  supported  during  your  Administration  are  no  longer 
adhered  to,  you  must  agree  with  me  that  to  continue  in  the 
Treasury  would  be  neither  useful  to  the  public  nor  honorable  to 
myself. 

The  reduction  of  the  public  debt  was  certainly  the  principal 
object  in  bringing  me  into  office,  and  our  success  in  that  respect 
has  been  due  both  to  the  joint  and  continued  efforts  of  the  several 
branches  of  government  and  to  the  prosperous  situation  of  the 
country.  I  am  sensible  that  the  work  cannot  progress  under 
adverse  circumstances.  If  the  United  States  shall  be  forced 
into  a  state  of  actual  war,  all  the  resources  of  the  country  must 
be  called  forth  to  make  it  efficient,  and  new  loans  will  un 
doubtedly  be  wanted.  But  whilst  peace  is  preserved,  the  reve 
nue  will,  at  all  events,  be  sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  and  to 
defray  necessary  expenses.  I  do  not  ask  that  in  the  present 
situation  of  our  foreign  relations  the  debt  be  reduced,  but  only 
that  it  shall  not  be  increased  so  long  as  we  are  not  at  war.  I  do 
not  pretend  to  step  out  of  my  own  sphere  and  to  control  the 
internal  management  of  other  Departments.  But  it  seems  to  me 
that  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  I  may  ask  that,  whilst  peace 
continues,  the  aggregate  of  the  expenditure  of  those  Departments 
be  kept  within  bounds  such  as  will  preserve  the  equilibrium 
between  the  national  revenue  and  expenditure  without  recur 
rence  to  loans.  I  cannot,  my  dear  sir,  consent  to  act  the  part 
of  a  mere  financier,  to  become  a  contriver  of  taxes,  a  dealer  of 
loans,  a  seeker  of  resources  for  the  purpose  of  supporting  use 
less  baubles,  of  increasing  the  number  of  idle  and  dissipated 

VOL.  I.— 31 


466  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1810. 

members  of  the  community,  of  fattening  contractors,  pursers,  and 
agents,  and  of  introducing  in  all  its  ramifications  that  system 
of  patronage,  corruption,  and  rottenness  which  you  so  justly 
execrate.  I  thought  I  owed  it  to  candor  and  friendship  to  com 
municate  as  I  did  to  Mr.  Madison  and  to  yourself  my  fears  of  a 
tendency  in  that  direction,  arising  from  the  quarter  and  causes 
which  I  pointed  out,  and  the  effect  such  a  result  must  have  on 
my  conduct.  I  earnestly  wish  that  my  apprehensions  may  have 
been  groundless,  and  it  is  a  question  which  facts,  and  particularly 
the  approaching  session  of  Congress,  will  decide.  No  efforts 
shall  be  wanted  on  my  part  in  support  of  our  old  principles. 
But,  whatever  the  result  may  be,  I  never  can  forget  either  your 
eminent  services  to  the  United  States  nor  how  much  I  owe  to 
you  for  having  permitted  me  to  take  a  subordinate  part  in  your 
labors. 


GALLATIN  TO  JOHN  W.  EPPES,  CHAIRMAN  OP  COMMITTEE  OP  WAYS  AND  MEANS. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  February  26,  1810. 

SIR, — I  have  the  honor  to  submit  the  following  observations 
in  answer  to  the  several  objects  of  inquiry  embraced  by  your 
letter  of  the  8th  ultimo.  The  amount  of  extraordinary  expenses 
which  may  be  authorized  by  Congress  being  yet  unascertained, 
it  is  not,  even  at  this  time,  practicable  to  state  with  precision  the 
sum  which  may  be  wanted  on  loan  for  the  service  of  this  year. 
And  in  relation  to  ensuing  years  it  would  be  premature  to  lay 
down  any  general  rules  respecting  the  most  eligible  mode  of 
borrowing  sums  of  money  commensurate  with  the  exigencies  of 
the  United  States  in  case  of  war.  It  is,  therefore,  thought  suf 
ficient  for  the  present  to  point  out  some  of  the  most  obvious 
means  of  effecting  loans  generally,  leaving  it  a  subject  of  sub 
sequent  consideration  to  decide,  according  to  existing  circum 
stances,  on  the  most  eligible  mode,  and  on  the  arrangement  of 
details. 

The  inquiries  of  the  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means  apply  to 
the  three  following  points :  1st.  What  is  the  most  eligible  mode 
of  obtaining  money  by  loan,  keeping  in  view  both  the  facility  of 


1810.  LETTERS,    ETC.  467 

borrowing  sums  commensurate  with  the  exigencies  of  the  United 
States  and  the  ultimate  extinguishment  of  the  debt  contracted? 
2dly.  To  what  extent  can  an  increase  of  importation  be  carried 
with  safety?  3dly.  Can  any  other  resources,  besides  taxes  and 
loans,  be  relied  on  for  immediate  revenue? 

Loans. — 1st.  The  commissioners  of  the  sinking  fund  will,  out 
of  the  annual  appropriation  of  eight  millions  of  dollars  for  the 
payment  of  the  debt,  reimburse,  in  1810,  the  residue  of  the  ex 
changed  six  per  cent,  stock,  amounting  to  $3,750,000,  and,  in 

1811,  the  whole  of  the  converted  six  per  cent,  stock,  amounting 
to  §1,860,000.      It  is  probable  that  the  owners  of  those  two 
species  of  stock  would  consent  to  re-loan  the  amount,  provided 
it  was  made  irredeemable  for  a  few  years. 

2d.  It  has  already  been  stated,  in  the  annual  report  of  No 
vember  5,  1807,  referred  to  in  that  of  this  year,  "that  the  sev 
eral  banks  of  the  United  States  might  find  it  convenient,  as  the 
diminished  commerce  of  the  country  might  require  less  capital, 
to  loan  to  government  a  considerable  portion  of  their  capital 
stock,  then  computed  at  about  forty  millions  of  dollars."  Such 
temporary  loans  can  be  obtained  only  to  a  limited  amount,  but 
they  are  convenient  in  two  respects:  1st,  They  do  not  diminish 
the  facility  of  obtaining  other  loans  from  individuals,  inasmuch 
as  they  do  not  increase  the  amount  of  stock  at  market.  2dly. 
Being  redeemable  at  will,  and  in  any  sums  which  may  suit  the 
convenience  of  government,  interest  is  paid  only  as  long  as  the 
money  is  wanted  ;  and  the  extinguishment  of  the  debt  contracted 
is  rendered  more  easy  and  certain. 

3d.  Loans  may  be  obtained  from  individuals  to  an  extent 
commensurate  with  the  national  capital,  and  limited  by  the  ex 
isting  demand  for  that  capital  for  private  purposes.  The  terms 
must  vary  according  to  circumstances,  always  giving  the  pref 
erence  to  the  most  simple  form  that  can  effect  the  object.  A 
portion  of  the  public  lands  may  perhaps,  if  necessary,  either 
as  a  premium  or  by  giving  an  option  to  subscribers,  be  ad 
vantageously  applied  in  facilitating  loans  or  improving  their 
terms. 

4th.  Treasury  notes  bearing  interest,  and  payable  to  order  one 
year  after  date,  may  be  annually  issued,  to  a  moderate  amount, 


468  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1810. 

and  be  put  in  circulation,  both  through  the  medium  of  banks, 
and  in  payment  of  supplies.  A  portion  would  be  absorbed 
during  the  year  by  the  payment  of  public  lands  and  revenue 
bonds,  and  the  redemption  of  the  residue  be  provided  for  by 
the  loan  of  the  ensuing  year.  This  annual  anticipation  of 
the  revenue,  though  liable  to  abuse,  may,  if  kept  within  strict 
bounds,  facilitate  both  the  collection  of  the  revenue  and  the 
loans  themselves. 

In  relation  to  the  extinguishment  of  the  debt  contracted,  those 
who  borrow  can  do  nothing  more  than  to  provide  and  pledge 
funds  sufficient  for  that  object,  and  to  give  such  a  form  to  the 
debt  as  may  not  impede  its  redemption.  To  render  it  irredeem 
able  for  no  longer  time  than  is  necessary  in  order  to  obtain  the 
money ;  to  make  it  reimbursable  by  instalments  at  fixed  periods; 
never  to  create,  for  the  sake  of  diminishing  the  annual  interest, 
a  greater  nominal  amount  of  stock  than  the  sum  actually  bor 
rowed  ;  and,  above  all,  never  incur  expenses  which  are  not  act 
ually  necessary  for  the  defence  or  welfare  of  the  country ;  are 
principles  essential  for  a  nation  which  does  not  contemplate  a 
system  of  perpetual  and  increasing  debt.  But  for  its  actual  re 
imbursement  we  must  principally  depend  on  the  return  of  pros 
perous  circumstances,  on  the  growing  resources  of  the  country, 
and  on  the  wisdom  of  our  successors.  The  artificial  provisions 
of  a  sinking  fund  may  always  be  rendered  inefficient  by  the 
necessities  or  extravagance  of  government.  The  real  amount 
of  a  national  debt  cannot  be  diminished  unless  the  aggregate  of 
revenue,  including  the  funds 'assigned  to  the  sinking  fund,  and 
exclusively  of  new  loans,  exceeds  the  aggregate  of  expenditures 
other  than  those  for  the  payment  of  the  principal  of  the  debt. 
Favorable  circumstances  and  a  rigid  economy  in  the  current  ex 
penses  have  enabled  the  United  States  to  reimburse,  during  the 
last  eight  years,  one-half  of  the  debt  created  by  the  Revolution 
ary  war  and  during  some  of  the  ensuing  years.  Similar  circum 
stances  and  an  adherence  to  the  same  principles  will  be  requisite 
to  secure  the  actual  reimbursement  of  the  debt  which  it  may  now 
be  necessary  to  contract.  But  that  government  will  possess  re 
sources  amply  sufficient  for  that  object  cannot  be  doubted.  The 
proceeds  of  the  public  lands  would  alone,  slowly,  perhaps,  but 


1810.  LETTERS,    ETC.  469 

certainly,  extinguish  a  much  greater  debt  than  the  United  States 
have  it  now  in  their  power  to  create.  And  it  is  sufficiently 
ascertained  that  the  national  wealth  of  the  United  States,  and, 
therefore,  the  means  of  raising  revenue,  increase  in  a  ratio  still 
more  rapid  than  their  population, — a  population  which  almost 
doubles  every  twenty  years. 

These  considerations,  connected  with  others,  stated  at  large 
in  the  annual  reports  of  November,  1807,  and  December,  1808, 
produced  a  conviction  that  loans  might,  without  danger,  be  re 
sorted  to  as  the  principal  resource  for  supporting  a  war.  Permit 
me  at  the  same  time  to  observe  that  the  suggestion  has  been 
confined  to  that  object  alone,  and  that,  excepting  the  case  of 
war,  either  immediate  or  contemplated,  it  appears  consistent 
with  sound  policy  to  raise  during  the  year  the  means  of  de 
fraying  all  the  national  expenses,  borrowing  no  larger  sum 
than  the  amount  of  principal  of  old  debt  paid  during  the  year. 
The  propriety  of  providing,  even  in  time  of  war,  a  revenue 
equal  to  the  annual  expenses  on  a  peace  establishment,  the  in 
terest  of  the  existing  debt,  and  that  on  the  loans  which  may  be 
raised,  has  also  been  suggested  in  former  reports. 

Increase  of  Duties. — On  that  subject  but  little  can  be  added 
to  the  opinions  expressed  on  former  occasions.  I  still  think 
that  this  source  of  revenue  is,  in  the  United  States  and  at  this 
time,  the  most  productive,  the  easiest  to  collect,  the  least  burden 
some  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people;  and  that  the  duties  on 
importation  generally  may,  in  case  of  war,  be  doubled  without 
inconvenience  or  danger. 

In  time  of  peace,  and  particularly  under  existing  circum 
stances,  habits  of  smuggling  might  be  promoted  by  so  great 
an  increase.  But  the  precise  rate  which  may  with  safety  be 
adopted  can  only  be  a  matter  of  opinion,  to  be  tested  by 
experience.  I  would  not  hesitate,  however,  to  mention  an 
additional  duty  of  five  per  cent,  on  merchandise  paying  ad 
valorem  duties,  and  an  increase  of  33  J-  per  cent,  on  the  existing 
duties  on  all  other  articles,  as  attended  with  very  little  danger, 
and  preferable  to  any  other  new  source  of  taxation.  A  renewal 
of  the  duty  on  salt,  which  produced  six  hundred  thousand  dollars 
a  year,  may  be  exceptionable  in  other  respects,  but,  on  account 


470  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1810. 

of  the  bulk  of  the  article,  is  liable  to  no  objection  in  the  present 
view  of  the  subject. 

It  was  stated  in  the  annual  report  of  December  last,  that 
an  increase  of  duties  would  not,  on  account  of  the  terms  of 
credit  allowed  for  the  payment  of  duties,  supersede  the  necessity 
of  a  loan  for  the  service  of  this  year.  The  amount  of  that  loan 
might,  of  course,  be  diminished  if  no  credit,  or  a  credit  of  only 
sixty  days,  was  allowed  for  the  payment  of  the  proposed  addi 
tional  duties. 

Public  Lands. — These  constitute  the  only  great  national  re 
source,  exclusively  of  loans  and  taxes.  They  have  already  been 
mentioned  as  forming  a  fund  for  the  ultimate  extinguishment 
of  the  public  debt ;  and  the  possibility  of  their  being  used  as 
a  means  of  facilitating  loans  has  been  suggested.  A  portion 
might  also  be  usefully  applied  as  a  bounty  to  officers  and  sol 
diers,  whenever  it  may  become  necessary  to  raise  a  considerable 
force.  But,  as  an  object  of  immediate  revenue,  I  much  doubt 
whether  this  can  be  materially  increased  without  a  radical 
change  in  the  present  system. 

Not  less  than  ten  land  offices  are  now  in  full  operation,  offer 
ing  a  great  choice  of  good  lands,  situated  in  various  climates, 
and  suited  to  the  habits  of  the  citizens  of  every  portion  of  the 
Union.  They  are  sold  at  the  rate  of  two  dollars  and  sixty- 
four  cents,  if  paid  for  at  the  time  of  purchase,  and  in  tracts  of 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres.  As  much  is  sold  as  there  is  actual 
demand  for  land  in  similar  situations  at  that  price.  The  sales 
are,  however,  almost  exclusively  confined  to  those  who  are,  or 
intend  to  become,  actual  settlers,  and  all  the  money  which  can 
be  raised  by  that  description  of  purchasers  is  annually  paid  to 
the  United  States.  In  order  to  increase  immediately  the  amount 
of  sales,  a  different  capital  from  that  which  has  heretofore  been 
applied  to  that  object — the  capital  of  persons  who  will  purchase 
for  the  purpose  of  selling  again  with  a  profit — must  be  brought 
into  action.  But  it  is  evident  that  no  person  will  purchase  lands 
at  the  present  price  as  an  object  of  speculation  whilst  the  United 
States  continue  to  sell  at  the  same  price  in  small  tracts.  To 
effect  the  proposed  object  it  would  be  necessary  not  only  to 
reduce  the  price,  but  to  make  a  difference  between  that  of  lands 


1810.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  471 

sold  in  large  tracts  and  that  asked  for  small  tracts,  sufficient  to 
encourage  purchases  on  an  extensive  scale.  That  alteration 
might  produce  an  additional  revenue,  but  appears  to  me  ex 
tremely  injurious  in  other  respects.  The  present  system  of 
sales  has  been  tried,  and  answers  the  expectations  of  the  Legis 
lature.  A  gradual  increase  must,  notwithstanding  some  tem 
porary  fluctuations,  necessarily  take  place.  On  that  I  would 
rely ;  nor  would  I  venture  to  suggest  any  other  change  than 
that  already  proposed  on  a  former  occasion, — a  moderate  and 
general  reduction  of  prices,  discontinuing  at  the  same  time  all 
sales  on  credit,  but  continuing  to  sell  at  the  same  rate  large  or 
small  tracts  of  land. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant. 

[Enclosure.] 

Extract  from  the  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury,  dated  November  6,  1807: 

"  It  will  be  sufficient  to  state,  1st.  That  it  appears  necessary 
to  provide  a  revenue  at  least  equal  to  the  annual  expenses  on  a 
peace  establishment,  the  interest  of  the  existing  debt,  and  the 
interest  on  the  loans  which  may  be  raised.  2d.  That  those  ex 
penses,  together  with  the  interest  of  the  debt,  will,  after  the  year 
1808,  amount  to  a  sum  less  than  seven  millions  of  dollars,  and 
therefore  that,  if  the  present  revenue  of  fourteen  millions  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars  shall  not  be  diminished  more  than 
one-half  by  a  war,  it  will  still  be  adequate  to  that  object,  leaving 
only  the  interest  of  war  loans  to  be  provided  for. 

"  Whether  taxes  should  be  raised  to  a  greater  amount,  or  loans 
be  altogether  relied  on,  for  defraying  the  expenses  of  a  war,  is 
the  next  subject  of  consideration. 

"  Taxes  are  paid  by  the  great  mass  of  the  citizens,  and  imme 
diately  affect  almost  every  individual  of  the  community ;  loans 
are  supplied  by  capitals  previously  accumulated  by  a  few  indi 
viduals.  In  a  country  where  the  resources  of  individuals  are 
not  generally  and  materially  affected  by  the  war,  it  is  practicable 
and  wise  to  raise  by  taxes  the  greater  part  at  least  of  the  annual 
supplies.  The  credit  of  a  nation  may  also,  from  various  circum- 


472  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1810. 

stances,  be,  at  times,  so  far  impaired  as  to  leave  no  resource  but 
taxation.  In  both  respects  the  situation  of  the  United  States  is 
totally  dissimilar. 

"A  maritime  war  will,  in  the  United  States,  generally  and 
deeply  affect,  whilst  it  continues,  the  resources  of  individuals; 
as  not  only  commercial  profits  will  be  curtailed,  but  principally 
because  a  great  portion  of  the  surplus  of  agricultural  produce 
necessarily  requires  a  foreign  market.  The  reduced  price  of  the 
principal  articles  exported  from  the  United  States  will  operate 
more  heavily  than  any  contemplated  tax.  And,  without  in 
quiring  whether  a  similar  cause  may  not  still  more  deeply  and 
permanently  affect  a  nation  at  war  with  the  United  States,  it 
seems  to  follow  that,  so  far  as  relates  to  America,  the  losses  and 
privations  caused  by  the  war  should  not  be  aggravated  by  taxes 
beyond  what  is  strictly  necessary.  An  addition  to  the  debt  is 
doubtless  an  evil ;  but,  experience  having  now  shown  with  what 
rapid  progress  the  revenue  of  the  Union  increases  in  time  of 
peace,  with  what  facility  the  debt,  formerly  contracted,  has  in  a 
few  years  been  reduced,  a  hope  may  confidently  be  entertained 
that  all  the  evils  of  the  war  will  be  temporary  and  easily  re 
paired,  and  that  the  return  of  peace  will,  without  any  effort, 
afford  ample  resources  for  reimbursing  whatever  may  have  been 
borrowed  during  the  war. 

"The  credit  of  the  United  States  is  also  unimpaired,  either  at 
home  or  abroad;  and  it  is  believed  that  loans,  to  a  reasonable 
amount,  may  be  obtained  on  eligible  terms.  Measures  have  been 
taken  to  ascertain  to  what  extent  this  may  be  effected  abroad. 
And  it  will  be  sufficient  here  to  suggest  that  the  several  banks 
of  the  United  States  may  find  it  convenient  after  the  ensuing 
year,  and  as  the  diminished  commerce  of  the  country  may  require 
less  capital,  to  loan  to  government  a  considerable  portion  of  their 
capital  stock,  now  computed  at  about  forty  millions  of  dollars. 

u  It  might  be  premature  to  enter  into  a  particular  detail  of 
the  several  branches  of  revenue  which  may  be  selected  in  order 
to  provide  for  the  interest  of  war  loans,  and  to  cover  deficiencies 
in  case  the  existing  revenue  should  fall  below  seven  millions  of 
dollars.  A  general  enumeration  seems  at  present  sufficient: 

"  1.  Not  only  the  duty  on  salt  and  the  Mediterranean  duties 


1810.  LETTERS,    ETC.  473 

may  be  immediately  revived,  but  the  duties  on  importation  gen 
erally  may,  in  case  of  war,  be  considerably  increased,  perhaps 
doubled,  with  less  inconvenience  than  would  arise  from  any 
other  mode  of  taxation.  Without  resorting  to  the  example  of 
other  nations,  experience  has  proven  that  this  source  of  revenue 
is,  in  the  Ui&ted  States,  the  most  productive,  the  easiest  to  collect, 
and  the  least  burdensome  to  the  great  mass  of  the  people.  In 
time  of  war  the  danger  of  smuggling  is  diminished,  the  scarcity 
of  foreign  articles  prevents  the  duty  ever  falling  on  the  importer, 
the  consumers  are  precisely  those  members  of  the  community 
who  are  best  able  to  pay  the  duty,  and  the  increase  of  domestic 
manufactures,  which  may  be  indirectly  effected,  is  in  itself  a 
desirable  object. 

"2.  Indirect  taxes,  however  ineligible,  \vill  doubtless  be  cheer 
fully  paid  as  war  taxes  if  necessary.  Several  modifications  of 
the  system  formerly  adopted  might,  however,  be  introduced, 
both  in  order  to  diminish  some  of  the  inconveniences  which 
were  experienced,  and,  particularly,  to  insure  the  collection  of 
the  duties. 

"  3.  Direct  taxes  are  liable  to  a  particular  objection,  arising 
from  the  unavoidable  inequality  produced  by  the  general  rule  of 
the  Constitution.  Whatever  difference  may  exist  between  the 
relative  wealth  and  consequent  ability  of  paying  of  the  several 
States,  still  the  tax  must  necessarily  be  raised  in  proportion  to 
their  relative  population.  Should  it,  however,  become  necessary 
to  resort  to  that  resource,  it  is  believed  that  a  tax  raised  upon 
that  species  of  property  in  each  State,  which,  by  the  State  laws, 
is  liable  to  taxation,  as  had  originally  been  contemplated  by 
Congress,  would  be  preferable  to  a  general  assessment,  laid 
uniformly  on  the  same  species  of  property  in  all  the  States,  as 
was  ultimately  adopted." 

[Enclosure.] 

Extract  from  the  annual  report  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury,  of  December  10,  1808 : 

"  It  is  certainly  only  with  a  view  to  war,  either  immediate  or 
contemplated,  that  it  will  become  necessary  to  resort,  at  least  to 
any  considerable  extent,  to  extraordinary  sources  of  supply. 


474  WKITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1810. 

"  Legitimate  resources  can  be  derived  only  from  loans  or 
taxes ;  and  the  reasons  which  induce  a  belief  that  loans  should 
be  principally  relied  on  in  case  of  war  were  stated  in  the  annual 
report  of  last  year.  That  opinion  has  been  corroborated  by 
every  subsequent  view  which  has  been  taken  of  the  subject,  as 
well  as  by  the  present  situation  of  the  country.  The  embargo 
has  brought  into  and  kept  in  the  United  States  almost  all  the 
floating  property  of  the  nation.  And  whilst  the  depreciated 
value  of  domestic  products  increases  the  difficulty  of  raising  a 
considerable  revenue  by  internal  taxes,  at  no  former  time  has 
there  been  so  much  specie,  so  much  redundant  unemployed 
capital,  in  the  country.  The  high  price  of  public  stocks,  and, 
indeed,  of  all  species  of  stocks,  the  reduction  of  the  public  debt, 
the  unimpaired  credit  of  the  general  government,  and  the  large 
amount  of  existing  bank  stock  in  the  United  States,  leave  no 
doubt  of  the  practicability  of  obtaining  the  necessary  loans  on 
reasonable  terms. 

"  The  geographical  situation  of  the  United  States,  their  his 
tory  since  the  Revolution,  and,  above  all,  present  events,  remove 
every  apprehension  of  frequent  wars.  It  may,  therefore,  be 
confidently  expected  that  a  revenue  derived  solely  from  duties 
on  importations,  though  necessarily  impaired  by  war,  will  al 
ways  be  amply  sufficient,  during  long  intervals  of  peace,  not 
only  to  defray  current  expenses,  but  also  to  reimburse  the  debt 
contracted  during  the  few  periods  of  war. 

"  No  internal  taxes,  either  direct  or  indirect,  are  therefore 
contemplated,  even  in  the  case  of  hostilities  carried  on  against 
the  two  great  belligerent  powers.  Exclusively  of  the  authority 
which  must  from  time  to  time  be  given  to  borrow  the  sums 
required  (always  providing  for  the  reimbursement  of  such  loans 
within  limited  periods),  and  of  a  due  economy  in  the  several 
branches  of  expenditure,  nothing  more  appears  necessary  than 
such  modifications  and  increase  of  the  duties  on  importations 
as  are  naturally  suggested  by  existing  circumstances. 

"Although  importations  have  already  considerably  diminished, 
and  may,  under  the  system  now  in  force,  shortly  be  altogether 
discontinued,  no  reasonable  objection  is  perceived  against  an 
increase  of  duties  on  such  as  may  still  take  place. 


1810.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  475 

"Had  the  duties  been  doubled  on  the  1st  of  January,  1808, 
as  was  then  suggested,  in  ease  of  war,  the  receipts  into  the 
Treasury  during  that  and  the  ensuing  year  would  have  been 
increased  nine  or  ten  millions  of  dollars.  Those  articles  of 
most  universal  consumption,  on  which  an  increase  of  duty 
would  be  inconvenient,  are  generally  either  free  of  duty  or 
abundant ;  it  is,  therefore,  proposed  that  not  only  the  Mediter 
ranean  duties,  which  will  expire  on  the  first  day  of  January 
next,  should  be  continued,  but  that  all  the  existing  duties  should 
be  doubled  on  importations  subsequent  to  that  day." 


GALLATIN   TO   THE   NATIONAL   INTELLIGENCER. 

21st  April,  1810. 

Amongst  the  papers  lately  laid  before  the  British  Parliament 
respecting  American  affairs  is  a  despatch  from  Mr.  Erskine  to 
Mr.  Canning,  dated  4th  December,  1808,  which  principally  re 
lates  to  a  conversation  between  Mr.  Erskine  and  myself.  This 
took  place  at  my  house,  and  without  any  previous  appointment; 
but,  as  Mr.  Erskine  had  during  the  previous  week  conversed 
with  Mr.  Madison,  I  was  prepared  for  the  subjects,  and  every 
sentiment  I  uttered  was  in  perfect  unison  with  those  of  the 
President  and  of  the  Secretary  of  State.  What  was  meant  by 
colonial  trade  has  already  been  explained  by  Mr.  Erskine;  but 
as  his  own  share  in  those  conversations  with  several  members  of 
the  Administration  is  in  his  despatches  altogether  omitted,  and 
the  conditions  expected  by  the  United  States  from  Great  Britain 
are  not  distinctly  explained,  it  is  proper  to  state  briefly  the  gen 
eral  grounds  which  were  considered  here  as  forming  a  proper 
basis  for  an  adjustment  of  differences,  if  a  conciliatory  disposition 
was  found  to  exist  on  the  part  of  the  British  government. 

1.  Reparation  for  the  attack  on  the  Chesapeake.  The  Presi 
dent's  proclamation  merging  in  the  proposed  Non-Intercourse 
Act,  by  which  the  public  ships  of  both  Great  Britain  and  France 
would  be  excluded  from  the  ports  of  the  United  States,  the 


WRITINGS     OF     GAL  LATIN.  1810. 

ostensible  obstacle  to  making  the  reparation  acknowledged  to  be 
due  was  removed. 

2.  Orders  of  council.     To  be  repealed  simply  on  the  ground 
of  the  Non-Intercourse  Act  applying  in  that  event  exclusively 
to  France,  so  long  as  her  decrees  violating  the  neutral  rights  of 
the  United  States  continued  in  force. 

3.  Impressment  of  seamen.     To  be  entirely  abandoned,  Amer 
ica  agreeing  to  exclude  from  her  navigation  seamen  not  citizens 
of  the  United  States,  on  the  principle  contained  in  the  instruc 
tions  of  the  20th  May,  1807,  to  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney, 
which,  on  account  of  the  rupture  of  the  negotiations,  were  not  in 
that  respect  acted  upon. 

4.  Colonial  trade.     The  right  to  the  direct  trade,  viz.,  that 
carried  directly  from  the  colonies  to  the  belligerents  in  Europe, 
to  be  waived   by  the  United  States,  provided  that  the  trade 
between  the  United  States  and  the  colonies,  and  that  in  colonial 
articles  between  the  United  States  and  other  countries,  was  for 
mally  recognized,  according  to  the  principles  contained  in  the 
same  instructions. 

5.  Commercial  relations.     The  partial  Non-Importation  Act 
of  the  United  States,  and  the  convoy  and  other  extra  duties  of 
Great  Britain,  to  be  repealed;  and  generally  every  source  of  col 
lision,  arising  from  that  species  of  commercial  warfare,  to  cease 
by  a  mutual  repeal  of  all  discriminating  duties,  in  conformity 
with   the  instructions  to  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney  before 
mentioned.     The  two  nations  to  place  each  other  in  every  other 
respect  on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nation. 

On  this  last  point  my  observations  were  general  and  equally 
applying  to  both  countries,  the  system  of  restrictions  which 
those  of  Great  Britain  had  forced  the  United  States  to  adopt 
being  equally  injurious  to  both.  And  Mr.  Erskine  is  mistaken 
in  supposing  that  I  would  have  preferred  at  first  measures  of  a 
more  decided  nature  to  the  embargo. 

Mr.  Erskine  appears,  so  far  as  can  be  inferred  from  the  cor 
respondence  now  published,  to  have  supposed  that  in  order  to 
induce  his  government  to  take  into  consideration  those  proposi 
tions,  and  to  adopt  a  conduct  consistent  with  just  principles  and 
with  the  great  and  permanent  interests  of  Great  Britain,  it  was 


1810.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  477 

absolutely  necessary  to  dissipate  the  prejudices  they  had  imbibed ; 
and  his  efforts  seem  accordingly  to  have  been  principally  used 
in  trying  to  convince  them  of  the  sincere  disposition  of  the 
members  of  the  American  Administration  to  adjust  the  dif 
ferences  between  the  two  countries.  Knowing  the  earnestness 
of  his  endeavors  in  promoting  that  object,  the  difficulties  lie 
had  to  encounter  in  his  attempts  to  induce  the  British  Ministry 
to  take  a  comprehensive  and  correct  view  of  the  subject,  and 
the  sanguine  temper  which  he  discovered  throughout  the  whole 
transaction,  I  feel  no  disposition  to  cavil  at  the  general  coloring 
of  the  language  ascribed  either  to  other  members  of  the  Ad 
ministration  or  to  myself.  But  there  is  part  of  the  despatch  in 
which  I  cannot  for  a  moment  acquiesce. 

From  casual  expressions  imperfectly  understood  and  incor 
rectly  stated,  and  from  what  he  calls  "my  manner  and  slight 
insinuations,"  Mr.  Erskine  infers  that  I  thought  that  the  Presi 
dent  (Mr.  Jefferson)  had  acted  with  partiality  towards  France, 
and  that  I  had  attempted  to  contrast  Mr.  Madison's  sentiments 
in  that  respect  with  those  of  the  President. 

That  Mr.  Erskine's  object  was  to  use  the  change  of  Presidency 
as  an  argument  to  induce  the  British  Ministry  to  alter  their 
measures  towards  America,  and  that  the  opinions  thus  ascribed 
to  me  were  his  own,  is  sufficiently  obvious  from  the  whole  tenor 
of  his  despatch.  But  the  inference  as  it  relates  to  me  is  totally 
erroneous ;  and  Mr.  Erskine  must  have  mistaken  my  assent  to 
the  existence  of  surmises  of  partiality  in  Mr.  Jefferson  towards 
France  for  an  acquiescence  in  the  truth  of  them. 

I  might  with  truth  have  spoken  of  Mr.  Madison,  not  as  feel 
ing  any  particular  admiration  for  the  British  Constitution  and  in 
stitutions,  but  as  having  neither  bias  nor  enmity  towards  France 
or  England.  But  I  never  could  or  did  contrast  his  sentiments 
in  that  respect,  or  ascribe  to  him  opinions  on  the  subject  of  our 
foreign  relations  at  variance  with  those  of  Mr.  Jefferson. 

I  know  those  surmises  respecting  Mr.  Jefferson  to  be  alto-     ] 
gether  destitute  of  foundation.     To  have  in  the  most  indirect 
manner  suggested  or  countenanced  a  belief  in  them  would  have 
been  direct  falsehood.     So  far  from  having,  even  by  my  silence, 
acquiesced  in  insinuations  of  that  nature,  when   Mr.  Erskine 


478  WRITINGS    OF    GALLAT1N.  1810. 

once,  and  once  only,  dropped  a  hint  to  that  effect,  intimating  a 
supposed  hostility  to  England,  and  that  the  President  had  not 
placed  her  conduct  in  a  fair  light  before  the  public,  I  imme 
diately  repelled  the  charge,  and,  amongst  other  observations,  re 
minded  him  that  the  only  time  when  the  British  government 
had  by  the  proposed  equalization  of  duties  made  an  approach  of 
a  liberal  and  conciliatory  nature  towards  America,  it  was  imme 
diately  met  by  the  President,  who  had  expressly  recommended 
the  subject  to  Congress  in  his  message ;  and  that  the  plan  had 
been  defeated  by  the  clamor  of  that  party  in  America  which  was 
considered  the  best  disposed  towards  Great  Britain.  That  on 
that  occasion  a  change  took  place  in  my  manner  is  very  proba 
ble  ;  but  Mr.  Erskine  has  ascribed  it  to  a  source  very  different 
from  that  which  occasioned  it.  I  had  very  lately  been  zealously 
employed  in  repelling  the  charge, — a  charge  which  I  never  could 
hear  without  indignation.  Eight  years  of  the  most  intimate  in 
tercourse,  during  which  not  an  act  nor  hardly  a  thought  respect 
ing  the  foreign  relations  of  America  was  concealed,  enable  me 
confidently  to  say  that  Mr.  Jefferson  never  had  in  that  respect 
any  other  object  in  view  but  the  protection  of  the  rights  of  the 
United  States  against  every  foreign  aggression  or  injury,  from 
whatever  nation  it  proceeded,  and  has  in  every  instance  observed 
towards  all  the  belligerents  the  most  strict  justice  and  the  most 
scrupulous  impartiality.  His  character  stands  not  in  need  of 
this  declaration ;  it  is  due  to  myself. 

The  groundless  accusations  of  foreign  bias  and  influence  have 
been  generated  solely  by  the  virulence  of  party  spirit ;  and  they 
were  adopted  abroad  as  an  apology  or  pretence  for  unprovoked 
aggressions.  A  just  sense  of  the  injuries  received,  and  the  most 
temperate  efforts  to  obtain  redress,  constitute  what  has  been  called 
partiality.  And  it  seems  to  have  been  forgotten  that  from  the 
time  when  Mr.  Jefferson  became  President  till  the  month  of  Au 
gust,  1807,  no  actual  aggression  on  the  neutral  rights  of  America 
had  been  committed  by  France;  whilst  during  the  same  period 
the  nominal  blockades  of  enemies'  ports  by  England,  and  the 
annual  actual  blockades,  as  they  may  be  called,  of  our  own ;  the 
renewal,  contrary  to  express  and  mutual  explanations,  of  the 
depredations  on  the  indirect  colonial  trade;  the  continued  im- 


1810.  LETTERS,    ETC.  479 

pressments  of  our  seamen,  and  the  attack  on  the  Chesapeake ; 
had  actually  taken  place. 

During  that  period  the  laws,  the  executive  acts,  the  negotia 
tions  of  the  American  government  could  have  been  directed  to 
that  government  alone  from  whom  injuries  had  been  received. 
But  from  the  time  when  the  rights  of  the  United  States  were  in 
vaded  by  both  the  belligerents,  every  public  measure  has  equally 
embraced  both  ;  the  like  efforts,  founded  on  the  same  basis,  have 
uniformly,  though  without  success,  been  made  to  obtain  redress 
from  both ;  and  the  correspondence  now  published  furnishes  at 
least  irrefragable  proofs  of  the  earnest  desire  of  Mr.  Jefferson's 
Administration  to  adjust  the  differences  with  Great  Britain,  and 
of  their  disposition  to  remove  for  that  purpose  whatever  might 
serve  as  the  shadow  of  a  pretence  for  a  denial  of  justice  on  her 
part. 


GALLATIN  TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  14th  July,  1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — On  my  return  from  an  excursion  to  my  farm  on 
the  Monongahela,  I  found  your  letter  of  30th  May,  applying  for 
such  papers  relative  to  the  Batture  as  might  be  in  the  office.  It 
appears  on  inquiry  and  search  that  there  were  none,  some  printed 
documents  excepted,  which  during  my  absence  had  been  given 
to  Mr.  Graham  to  be  transmitted  to  you  with  other  papers  from 
the  Department  of  State,  through  which  and  the  Attorney-Gen 
eral  all  the  communications  passed  which  related  to  that  subject. 
As  I  had,  however,  particularly  attended  to  it,  both  when  the 
removal  took  place  and  during  the  discussions  of  last  winter,  I 
have  prepared  and  now  enclose  a  sketch  of  the  case,  in  which  I 
have  stated  the  provisions  of  the  law  which  authorized  the  Presi 
dent  to  act,  and  tried  to  arrange  under  distinct  heads  all  the  ar 
guments  which  have  been  urged,  or  have  occurred  to  my  mind, 
respecting  the  merits  of  the  case.  Some  of  these  are  doubtless 
more  plausible  than  substantial;  but  my  object  was  to  omit 
nothing,  and  to  facilitate,  by  a  short  digest,  the  references  to 
the  voluminous  publications  on  the  subject,  the  selection  of  the 


480  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1810. 

points  which  it  will  be  proper  to  make,  and  that  of  the  evidence 
necessary  to  support  them.  Governor  Claiborne,  with  whom  I 
have  conversed,  will  be  in  a  few  days  at  Monticello;  and  in 
reading  over  with  him  my  sketch  you  may  note  the  parol  or 
written  evidence  which  it  is  necessary  to  obtain,  and  which  he 
will  immediately  take  measures  to  obtain  at  New  Orleans. 

I  also  enclose  these  pamphlets,  which  you  perhaps  have  not 
received  with  the  others :  Thierri's  translation,  with  the  authen 
ticated  plans  thereto  annexed ;  Livingston's  publication  (con 
taining  Dubigny's  and  Duponceau's  opinions,  together  with 
those  of  the  four  other  Philadelphia  lawyers,  which  will  show 
the  probable  grounds  he  means  to  take,  and  several  documents, 
viz.,  the  order  of  sale  in  1763,  the  decree  in  his  favor,  &c.) ;  and 
one  of  Poydras's  speeches,  which,  pages  14  and  15,  contains  the 
appraisement  made,  in  1797,  of  B.  Gravier's  estate  to  John  Gra- 
vier,  his  heir.  The  whole  you  will  find  is  valued  at  2570  dollars, 
and  necessarily  excludes  the  Batture. 

I  have  forgotten  in  my  sketch  to  state  two  points,  viz.,  1st, 
that  you  had  taken  the  opinion  of  the  Attorney-General;  2d, 
that  you  are  not  obliged  to  prove  that  E.  Livingston  had  taken 
possession  subsequent  to  3d  March,  1807,  because  the  order  to 
the  marshal  does  not  name  Livingston,  and  directs  him  only  to 
drive  away  those  who  had  thus  taken  possession  after  said  3d 
March,  1807. 

I  presume  the  object  of  Livingston  to  be  to  obtain,  at  all 
events,  a  sideway  decision  in  favor  of  his  title,  a  la  mode  Mar 
shall ;  but  he  will,  I  think,  try  to  rest  his  title,  and,  indeed,  to 
have  the  whole  question  decided,  on  the  ground  of  the  decision 
by  the  court  of  Orleans,  as  both  rendering  the  President's  in 
terference  illegal  and  sufficiently  proving  his  title.  If  prac 
ticable,  and  not  interfering  with  the  ground  which  will  be 
selected  by  yourself  and  your  lawyers,  it  would  be  desirable 
to  compel  him  to  prove  his  title  (otherwise  than  by  the  Orleans 
court  decree)  ab  ovo  down  to  himself.  I  am  sure  that  he  can 
not  do  it,  either  as  to  a  clear  title  to  the  whole  land  having 
descended  from  the  Crown  to  Gravier,  or  as  to  any  description 
of  boundaries  along  the  river.  Exclusively  of  what  I  have 
stated  on  that  point,  it  may,  I  think,  be  proven  that  in  1788, 


J810.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  481 

when  the  suburb  was  laid  out,  there  was  no  Batture  along  the 
lower  part  of  it ;  and  I  believe  that  no  title  whatever  can  be 
produced  for  the  upper  part.  See  for  this  last  point  Dubigny, 
in  the  enclosed  pamphlet,  pages  viii.  and  ix.  Governor  Clai- 
borne  will  satisfy  you  as  to  the  first.  I  do  not  believe  that  I 
have  forgotten  anything ;  but,  as  you  may  see  that  the  subject 
is  familiar  to  me,  command  me  at  any  time  if  there  is  any  point 
on  which  any  explanation  may  be  wanted. 

With  never-ceasing  attachment  and  respect,  yours  truly. 

Is  it  necessary  to  prove  that  E.  Livingston's  claim  was  not 
filed  with  the  land  commissioners  till  after  1st  January,  1808, 
and  after  the  time  limited  for  that  purpose  had  expired?  I 
think  not;  but  if  wanted  it  may  easily  be  procured. 


MADISON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIER,    August  14,  1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  understand  that  the  measures  taking  by  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States  for  provisionally  winding  up  its 
affairs  are  likely  to  bear  hard  on  the  other. banks,  and  that  the 
evil  will  be  increased  by  the  drain  on  the  latter  for  paying  the 
bonds  as  they  become  due  in  the  hands  of  the  former.  Would 
not  some  remedy  be  afforded  by  a  distributive  transfer  (which 
would  also  have  provisional  reference  to  the  fate  of  the  Bank 
of  the  United  States)  of  the  public  money  from  its  present 
vaults  to  those  of  State  banks?  In  that  case  the  sum  locked 
up  in  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  would  be  limited  to  its 
ten  millions,  and  the  State  banks  be,  at  the  same  time,  aided 
in  discounting  for  persons  whose  discounts  are  curtailed  else 
where.  It  is  not  difficult  to  foresee  the  impressions  that  will 
be  made  if,  in  addition  to  the  general  embarrassment  resulting 
to  the  moneyed  interest  from  the  bank  operations,  they  should  be 
chargeable  with  checking  enterprise  in  purchasing  and  export 
ing  the  produce  of  the  farmers  and  planters.  How  far  was  the 
aid  given  the  Manhattan  Bank  a  precedent  for  the  course  here 
suggested  ? 
VOL.  i.— 32 


482  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1810. 

The  unsigned  letter  from  New  York  is  enclosed,  as  well  to 
have  your  assistance  in  ascertaining  the  writer  as  your  advice  on 
the  merits  of  the  case. 

I  have  received  your  favor  on  the  subject  of  my  nephew 
Macon,  but  have  not  yet  received  the  final  determination  of  his 
father,  who  is  at  present  absent,  as  well  as  his  son. 

Mr.  Jefferson  left  me  this  morning,  with  a  request  that  I  would 
forward  to  you  a  paper  he  has  drawn  up  on  the  case  of  the  Bat- 
ture.  It  will  go  by  the  next  mail. 

As  you  have  seen  Irvine,  I  presume  you  have  gathered  the 
amount  of  P.'s  despatches,  and  more  too.  It  appears  that  on 
the  13th  of  June  no  answer  had  been  given  to  the  question 
whether  a  repeal  of  the  primitive  blockade  was  objected  to ;  nor 
any  formal  offer  made  of  reparation  for  the  attack  on  the  Chesa 
peake.  It  was  inferred,  however,  the  offer  was  intended. 

Mrs.  M.  sends  her  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Gallatin.  Be  pleased 
to  add  mine,  and  to  be  assured  of  my  affectionate  respects. 


GALLATIN  TO  MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  21st  August,  1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  a  letter  from  Mr.  Duval  on  the  subject 
of  Brown's  estate.  I  cannot  recollect  whether  his  account,  &c., 
were  sent  to  Mr.  Pinkney,  but  will  write  to-day  to  have  it  done. 
The  report,  by  the  last  arrival  from  England,  is  that  he  has 
recovered  a  part  of  the  money  from  Brown. 

I  received  last  night  the  Batture  paper,  which  I  will  return 
whenever  I  shall  have  read  it.  Is  it  intended  as  a  brief  for  the 
lawyers,  or  for  publication  ? 

It  is  extremely  difficult  to  make,  at  this  moment,  any  general 
alteration  in  the  deposits  of  public  money;  for  as  we  grow  poorer 
we  are,  on  the  contrary,  obliged  to  concentrate  what  is  left  by 
drawing  from  the  other  banks,  such  as  the  Manhattan,  &c.,  and 
by  the  end  of  the  year  we  will  probably  be  reduced  so  low  as  to 
make  the  deposits  of  no  importance  to  any  bank.  I  believe  also 
that  the  lessening  of  discounts  by  the  Bank  of  the  United  States 


1810.  LETTEKS,    ETC. 

has  not  produced  the  effect  you  apprehend,  as  it  is  but  trifling, 
and  is  far  exceeded  by  the  new  discounts  made  by  the  new  banks 
created  since  spring  in  New  York,  Baltimore,  &c.  But  there  is 
a  general  diminution  of  specie;  and  there  may  be  partial  incon 
veniences  to  State  banks  resulting  from  that  source.  If  instead 
of  a  general  observation  the  place  or  places  whence  the  complaint 
has  arisen  are  made  known  to  me,  a  temporary  remedy  may 
perhaps  be  administered.  I  have  already  been  applied  to  by 
the  Bank  of  Columbia,  where  the  evil  arose  from  Davidson's 
harshness  and  littleness,  and  have  acted  upon  it. 

Mrs.  G.  presents  her  affectionate  regards  to  Mrs.  Madison. 
Respectfully  and  affectionately  yours. 


MADISON  TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIER,  August  22, 1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  several  letters  of  the  15th, 
16th,  and  17th.  The  appointment  for  the  revenue  cutter  at  New 
Orleans  is  approved,  and  so  noted  to  the  Treasury  Department, 
and  a  commission  for  Freeman  ordered  to  be  made  out  without 
delay. 

Poinsett  promises,  by  his  qualifications,  everything  to  be  ex 
pected  from  a  substitute  for  Gelston.  I  have  sent  the  returned 
papers  to  the  Department  of  State,  that  new  ones  may  be  for 
warded  to  you.  It  was  always  my  idea  that  the  country  beyond 
the  Andes  should  be  joined  to  Buenos  Ay  res,  but  it  seems  I 
failed  to  impart  it.  The  document  will  now  specify  both  a  port 
in  Peru  and  Chili  as  within  the  range  of  Mr.  P.,  if  visitable  by 
him.  Should  those  come  to  you  blank,  you  will  fill  them  with 
ports  best  combining  commercial  importance  and  proximity  to  the 
seats  of  government.  Your  hints  as  to  Sumter  and  the  Brazilian 
relations  to  South  America  have  been  attended  to.  Rio  Janeiro  is 
in  every  view  an  eligible  route  for  Mr.  P.  An  advance  of  $1500 
is  stated  to  the  Department  of  State.  It  may  be  well  for  you  to 
suggest  the  best  mode  of  making  it  from  the  Treasury.  Secrecy 
as  far  as  possible  is  desirable.  It  will  not  do  to  apply  for  a 


484  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN,  1810. 

Spanish  passport;  although  I  fear  the  want  of  it  may  be  a 
serious  difficulty,  unless  Sumter's  letters  of  introduction  should 
answer  an  equivalent  purpose.  The  Spanish  consul  at  Balti 
more,  on  discovering  that  Lowry  was  going  to  Caracas,  entered 
a  formal  complaint,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  contrary  to  the 
colonial  system.  And  to  ask  a  passport,  as  for  a  private  person, 
to  cover  a  political  one  would  not,  of  course,  be  allowable,  if  in 
these  suspicious  times  it  were  not  probably  unattainable. 

I  enclose,  at  the  request  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  a  note  to  a  paragraph 
in  his  case  of  the  Batture  contained  in  my  last;  intended  to  make 
his  argument  more  clear  and  apposite. 

The  last  despatch  from  Armstrong  is  no  later  than  May  24. 
It  relates  merely  to  the  proceedings  under  the  Rambouillet 
decree.  Mr.  Graham  mentions  a  letter  from  Warden,  of  June 
10,  as  unimportant.  I  have  a  private  letter  from  A.,  of  May 
24,  which  contains  the  passage  following:  "The  Imperial  de 
cree  of  March  23  sufficiently  indicates  its  own  cause,  though, 
from  the  personal  explanations  given  to  me,  it  would  appear  to 
have  been  less  the  result  of  the  laAv  itself  than  of  its  non-execu 
tion;  which  was  construed,  and  with  some  plausibility,  into  a 
partiality  for  English  commerce.  ( My  wishes  and  interests  (said 
the  Emperor  the  other  day)  both  lead  to  a  free  and  friendly  con 
nection  with  the  United  States;  but  I  cannot  see  with  indifference 
on  the  part  of  this  power  measures  which  expressly  favor  the 
trade  of  my  enemy.  Such  is  their  non-intercourse  law,  which 
by  its  own  provisions,  however  faithfully  executed,  would  not  be 
equal  in  its  operations,  but  which,  so  far  from  being  faithfully 
executed,  has  been  violated  with  impunity  from  its  date  to  the 
present  day,  much  to  my  prejudice,  and  greatly  to  the  advantage 
of  the  British  commerce.'  The  error  in  this  reasoning  is  in  not 
going  farther  back  for  premises."  He  glances  at  some  faint 
indications  of  jealousy  between  France  and  Russia,  and  at  an 
anticipated  marriage  between  a  prince  of  Prussia  and  a  daughter 
of  Lucien  Bonaparte.  In  a  preceding  letter  he  alludes  to  a  like 
one  between  Ferdinand  and  the  second  daughter  of  the  Emperor 
Francis,  with  a  view  to  its  bearings  on  South  America,  and 
warns  us  that  a  champ  de  bataille  may  then  be  found  with  the 
United  States. 


1810.  LETTERS,    ETC.  485 

I  have  a  long  letter  from  Judge  Toulmin,  which  authenticates 
the  reality  of  a  combination  headed  by  Caller  and  Kenady  for 
the  purpose  of  occupying  Mobile,  &c.  The  object  is  not  denied, 
an  impunity  avowedly  inferred  from  the  impossibility  of  finding 
a  jury  to  convict.  The  party  engaged  amounts,  as  given  out,  to 
about  400.  The  conquest  is  to  be  offered  to  the  United  States. 
Kenady  is  said  to  be  on  a  visit  to  Georgia  to  consult  the  Senators 
of  that  State,  whose  advice  is  to  be  followed.  It  is  not  improb 
able,  therefore,  as  is  intimated,  that  this  movement  is  intended 
to  cover  a  retreat  from  the  project. 

The  commandant  at  Fort  Stoddart  has  written  for  reinforce 
ments,  which  are  eligible,  if  practicable,  in  a  general  reference  to 
that  quarter. 

You  will  have  seen  the  projected  constitution  for  West  Flor 
ida,  and  noted,  among  other  particulars,  the  power  to  the  tem 
porary  government  to  grant  lands.  Should  it  become  .necessary 
for  the  Executive  to  exercise  authority  within  these  limits  be 
fore  the  meeting  of  Congress,  I  foresee  many  legal  difficulties. 
What  is  to  be  done  on  the  subject  of  the  custom-house  in  such 
an  event? 

Be  assured  of  my  esteem  and  best  wishes. 

I  can  say  nothing  as  to  Poinsett's  military  views,  more  than 
that  no  particular  decision  is  contemplated.  Should  his  services 
be  needed  hereafter,  the  use  now  made  of  him  sufficiently  denotes 
a  disposition  not  to  throw  him  out  of  sight. 


MADISON    TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIER,  September  5,  1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  21st  August. 
I  cannot  say  precisely  what  use  is  to  be  made  of  the  paper  on 
the  Batture  in  its  present  form.  If  it  be  intended  for  publica 
tion  directly,  as  well  as  through  a  report  of  the  arguments  at  the 
bar,  some  alterations  will  be  proper. 

It  appears  that  Brown,  partly  by  the  application  of  the  Alien 
lawT,  partly  in  consequence  of  his  operations  under  a  fictitious 


486  WEITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1810. 

name,  had  fallen  completely  under  the  power  of  Pinkney,  and 
had  given  up  between  30  and  40,000  dollars,  with  a  promise 
of  somewhat  more.  The  opinion  of  council  was  that  no  civil 
action  could  be  sustained  with  no  further  evidence  of  debt  than 
the  letter  from  Savage,  our  agent  at  Jamaica,  the  only  evidence 
then  possessed  by  Mr.  P. 

The  enclosed  letter  from  Ronaldson  will  strengthen  the  motives 
to  caution  in  facilitating  the  passage  of  French  emigrants. 

Our  farmers  here  never  experienced  such  prosperity.  They 
have  reaped  a  double  crop  of  wheat,  and  get  a  double  price ;  at 
the  same  time  that,  manufacturing  for  their  own  use,  they  will 
have  little  occasion,  as  indeed  they  seem  to  have  little  inclination, 
to  lay  it  out  in  the  usual  purchases.  They  are  very  sore,  never 
theless,  at  the  national  humiliation  stamped  on  the  present  state 
of  things. 

I  hope  Poinsett  has  received  his  outfit  of  documents,  and  will 
now  find  an  easy  access  to  his  destination. 

Mrs.  M.  presents  her  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Gallatin.  Be 
pleased  to  add  mine,  and  to  accept  assurances  of  my  great  esteem 
and  friendly  wishes. 


GALLATIN   TO   MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  5th  September,  1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — At  Mr.  Astor's  request  I  enclose  a  letter  which 
he  read  to  me.  I  gave  him  ho  opinion  on  the  contents.  But 
he  desired  me  to  request  that  if  it  was  not  thought  proper  to 
give  to  the  person  he  means  to  send  a  recommendatory  letter  for 
Mr.  Adams,  the  enclosed  might  be  considered  as  private,  and 
not  be  sent  to  the  Department  of  State. 

I  have  not  yet  received  the  papers  for  Mr.  Poinsett ;  but,  there 
having  been  no  opportunity  for  either  Brazil  or  La  Plata,  the 
delay  has  not  been  injurious.  Whenever  they  come,  your  obser 
vations  will  be  duly  attended  to. 

The  sickness  and  death  of  Colonel  Few's  only  son  have 
within  the  last  week  occupied  all  my  time,  and  prevented  my 
reading,  with  the  attention  due  to  it,  Mr.  Jefferson's  memoir  on 


1810.  LETTERS,    ETC.  487 

the  Batture.  I  suppose  that  my  keeping  it  a  week  longer  will 
produce  no  inconvenience ;  but  beg  if  you  see  him  that  you  will 
have  the  goodness  to  make  this  apology  for  the  delay. 

I  understand  that  Mr.  Pinkney  has  recovered  near  ten  thou 
sand  pounds  sterling  from  Brown,  but  have  not  heard  from  him 
on  the  subject. 

If  we  can  get  over  the  other  difficulties  respecting  West 
Florida,  the  business  of  the  custom-house  will  offer  none,  the 
laws  having  been  so  worded  as  to  include  in  the  districts  of  Or 
leans  and  Mobile  whatever  we  may  claim  and  possess.  This  was 
the  ground  of  offence  to  Yrujo.  The  law  also  which  authorizes 
the  President  to  take  possession  of  Louisiana  will  legally  cover 
any  other  measures  which  policy  may  dictate  in  relation  to  that 
part  of  West  Florida  which  lies  between  the  Mississippi  and  the 
Perdido.  But  what  ground  ought  generally  to  be  taken  consist 
ent  with  justice,  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  United  States,  and 
the  preservation  of  peace,  is  the  difficult  question. 

Mrs.  G.  requests  to  be  affectionately  remembered  to  Mrs. 
Madison. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  September  10,  1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  return  the  memoir  on  the  Batture,  which  to 
me  appears  complete  and  conclusive.  The  legal  parts  of  the 
argument,  being  less  within  my  competence,  I  would  probably 
have  abridged  in  some  respects,  and  my  arrangement  would 
have  been  somewhat  different,  But  yours  may  be  better  in 
itself,  and  I  really  cannot  even  suggest  any  important  alteration 
or  omission.  I  have  in  the  enclosed  paper  noted,  as  I  read  for 
the  second  time,  such  observations  as  occurred  respecting  details. 
That  Congress  ought  to  defend  the  suit  there  is  no  doubt.  The 
only  difficulty  lies  in  the  incredible  hold  which  Livingston  had 
the  address  to  take  of  many  members  in  every  other  respect 
friendly,  which  rendered  it  for  a  while  doubtful  whether  that 


488  WRITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1810. 

body  would  not  interfere  in  an  improper  manner.  Of  such  in 
terference  there  is  now  no  danger,  and  the  suit  against  you  has 
excited  an  indignation  which  must  forbid  his  success  in  any 
shape  with  Congress.  Still,  it  may  be  difficult  to  induce  men 
who  have  committed  themselves  by  votes  favorable  to  his  pre 
tensions  to  take  now  an  opposite  course ;  and  it  would  be  mor 
tifying  and  dangerous  to  fail  after  having  made  the  attempt.  I 
therefore  think  that  the  best  way  will  be  to  ascertain  in  the  first 
place  whether  a  resolution  to  defend  the  suit  can  be  carried  or 
not,  before  it  is  attempted.  Precedents  are  not  wanting.  Con 
gress  by  law  advanced  five  hundred  dollars  to  Dexter  to  defend 
the  suit  for  damages  instituted  against  him  on  account  of  the 
destruction  by  fire  of  the  War  Office ;  and  I  have  directed 
numerous  suits  against  collectors  for  seizures  and  detentions 
under  the  embargo  to  be  defended  by  the  district  attorneys 
or  at  public  expense.  Of  the  final  result  as  it  relates  to  your 
self  there  can  be  no  doubt ;  but  it  is  truly  vexatious  that  your 
peace  should  be  disturbed  and  your  attention  diverted  from 
favorite  pursuits  by  the  resentment  of  an  unprincipled  and  de 
linquent  speculator ;  and  very  unjust  to  compel  you  to  incur  the 
trouble  of  collecting  at  New  Orleans  evidence  of  facts  notorious 
indeed,  but  not  legally  proven.  Yet  of  the  necessity  of  doing 
this,  if  Congress  does  not,  I  am  aware.  You  know,  I  presume, 
that  Livingston  sailed  about  eight  weeks  ago  for  New  Orleans, 
and,  as  is  reported,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  collecting  such  evi 
dence  as  may  favor  his  views.  I  will  only  add  that  a  domestic 
affliction  in  the  family  of  a  near  friend  has  prevented  an  earlier 
attentive  perusal  of  your  memoir,  and  that  you  will  find  your 
additional  note  to  page  36  in  its  proper  place.  Is  not  Moreau's 
opinion  still  in  Rodney's  hands  ?  I  have  never  seen  it. 

I  need  not  say  how  much  shocked  I  was  by  Erskine's  despatch. 
However  reluctant  to  a  newspaper  publication,  and  to  a  denial 
on  matters  of  fact,  I  could  not  permit  my  name  to  be  ever  here 
after  quoted  in  support  of  the  vile  charges  of  foreign  partialities 
ascribed  to  you ;  and  I  knew  that  in  that  respect  my  disavowal 
would  be  decisive.  For,  if  my  testimony  was  believed,  they  did 
not  exist ;  and  if  disbelieved,  no  faith  could  be  placed  in  what 
ever  I  might  be  supposed  to  have  said  to  Erskine.  Although 


1810.  LETTERS,    ETC.  439 

I  never  for  a  moment  supposed  that  either  his  letter  or  any 
newspaper  attack  could,  after  so  long  and  intimate  acquaintance, 
create  a  doubt  in  your  mind  of  the  sincerity  and  warmth  of  my 
sentiments  towards  you,  or  alter  your  friendship  for  me,  the 
assurance  was  highly  acceptable  and  gratefully  received.  The 
newspaper  publications  to  which  you  allude  I  have  heard  of 
but  not  seen,  having  not  received  the  papers  south  of  this  place 
during  my  stay  here.  But  I  had  anticipated  that  from  various 
quarters  a  combined  and  malignant  attack  would  be  made  when 
ever  a  favorable  opportunity  offered  itself.  Of  the  true  causes 
and  real  authors  I  will  say  nothing  •  and  howrever  painful  the 
circumstance  and  injurious  the  effect,  the  esteem  of  those  who 
know  me,  and  the  consciousness  of  having  exclusively  devoted 
my  faculties  to  the  public  good  and  of  having  severely  performed 
public  duties  without  regard  to  personal  consequences,  will,  I 
hope,  support  me  against  evils  for  which  there  is  no  other  remedy. 
Yet  that  a  diminution  of  public  confidence  should  lessen  my 
usefulness  will  be  a  subject  of  deep  regret. 

Accept,  I  pray,  the  assurances  of  my  sincere  respect  and  con 
stant  affection  and  gratitude. 


MADISON  TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIER,  September  12,  1810. 

DEAE  SIR, — I  have  received  your  favor  of  the  5th,  enclosing 
one  from  Mr.  Astor.  Whatever  personal  confidence  may  be  due 
to  him,  or  public  advantage  promised  by  his  projected  arrange 
ment  with  the  Russian  Fur  Company,  there  is  an  obvious 
difficulty  in  furnishing  the  official  patronage  which  he  wishes, 
whether  the  arrangement  be  regarded  as  of  a  public  or  of  a 
private  character.  In  the  former,  it  would  require  the  solemni 
ties  of  a  treaty;  in  the  latter,  it  would  be  a  perplexing  pre 
cedent,  and  incur  the  charge  of  partiality ;  and  .in  either,  is 
forbidden  by  the  proposed  article  depriving  others,  under  the 
description  of  transient  traders,  of  the  common  rights  of  Amer 
ican  citizens.  Although  the  Russian  government  or  the  Fur 
Company  may  make  such  a  distinction  of  themselves,  it  would 


490  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1810. 

be  wrong  for  this  government  to  be  a  party  to  it :  first,  because 
it  would  favor  a  monopoly,  contrary  to  constitutional  principles ; 
next,  because  in  a  general  and  political  view  such  distinctions 
from  foreign  sources  are  justly  regarded  as  an  evil  in  themselves. 
The  most  that  seems  admissible  would  be  an  instruction  to  Mr. 
Adams  to  promote  the  opening  of  the  Russian  market  generally 
to  the  articles  which  are  now  excluded,  and  which  may  be  ex 
ported  from  the  United  States.  To  such  an  instruction  no 
objection  occurs ;  and,  if  it  be  thought  advantageous,  may  be 
given.  In  the  mean  time  I  shall  not  send  Mr.  Astor's  letter  to 
the  Department  of  State,  nor  take  any  step  till  I  hear  again 
from  you.  Mrs.  M.  sends  her  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Gallatin. 
Accept  my  best  wishes. 

The  sooner  you  send  to  Mr.  J.  the  Batture  paper,  the  better, 
as  the  use  of  it  by  his  counsel  is  expedient ;  and  I  am  not  sure 
that  the  session  of  the  court  may  not  be  near.  I  shall  be  at 
Monticello  in  a  day  or  two,  and  will  explain  the  delay  as  you 
desire. 


GALLATIN   TO    MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  17th  September,  1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  the  papers  for  Mr.  Poinsett  and 
delivered  them  to  him.  We  have  found  a  vessel  which  will  sail 
for  Rio  Janeiro  in  two  or  three  weeks ;  it  is  the  only  one  bound 
to  Brazil,  and  there  is  none  for  La  Plata,  even  if  it  was  advisable 
to  go  directly  there.  Every  circumstance  corroborates  the  opin 
ion  that  England  will  try  to  govern  the  Spanish  colonies  through 
a  nominal  Spanish  regency,  and  will  for  that  purpose  keep  up 
a  war  in  some  one  corner  of  Spain,  and  oppose  revolutionary 
movements  in  the  colonies.  I  think  also  that  she  will  attempt 
to  take  possession  of  Cuba,  where  the  Spanish  regency  may,  if 
necessary,  be  removed.  The  English  interest  and  prejudices 
against  us  arising  from  that  source  will  therefore  be  the  princi 
pal  obstacles  to  our  views  in  that  quarter.  These  being  merely 


1810.  LETTERS,    ETC.  491 

commercial,  and  both  on  that  account  and  from  political  motives 
opposed  to  an  undue  British  ascendency,  we  may  expect  new 
sources  of  collision.  Florida  and  Cuba  are  by  far  the  most  im 
portant  objects,  and  will  require  some  immediate  decision.  In 
relation  to  the  last,  might  not  Erving  be  sent  to  Havana? 
which  has  an  immediate  connection  with  Florida,  and  may  be 
come  a  central  point  of  communication  both  for  Mexico  and 
the  Caracas  coast. 

I  expect  to  set  off  this  day  week  for  Washington,  where,  I 
presume,  you  intend  to  be  about  the  beginning  of  October. 

With  great  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  September  27,  1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — Yours  of  the  10th  came  safely  to  hand  and  laid 
me  under  new  obligations  for  the  valuable  observations  it  con 
tained.  The  error  of  12  feet  instead  of  7  for  the  rise  of  the 
Batture  really  sautoit  aux  yeux,  and  how  I  could  have  committed 
it  at  first  or  passed  it  over  afterwards  without  discovery,  and 
having  copied  Pelletier's  plan  myself,  is  unaccountable.  I  have 
adopted  also  most  of  your  other  corrections.  You  observe  that 
the  arguments  proving  the  Batture  public,  yet  prove  it  of  such 
a  character  that  it  could  not  be  within  the  scope  of  the  law  of 
March  4  against  squatters.  I  should  so  adjudge  myself;  yet 
I  observe  many  opinions  otherwise,  and  in  defence  against  a 
spadassin  it  is  lawful  to  use  all  weapons.  Besides,  I  have  no 
pretensions  to  be  exclusively  the  judge  of  what  arguments  are 
sound  and  what  not.  I  give  them,  therefore,  that  they  may 
weigh  with  those  who  think  they  have  weight  and  have  a  right 
to  decide  for  themselves.  That  Act  of  Congress,  moreover,  was 
evidently  respected,  particularly  in  the  order  under  which  the 
removal  was  made. 

With  respect  to  the  arrangement  of  materials  in  my  statement, 
I  know  it  is  not  such  as  counsel  would  employ  in  pleading  such 


492  WRITINGS     OF     GAL  LATIN.  1810. 

a  cause;  it  is  not  such  as  I  would  have  made  myself  in  that 
character.  It  was  determined  by  other  considerations.  I  thought 
it  possible  the  case  might  be  dismissed  out  of  court  by  a  plea  to 
the  jurisdiction.  I  determined,  on  this  event,  to  lay  it  before  the 
public,  either  directly  or  through  Congress.  Respect  for  my 
associates,  for  myself,  for  our  nation,  would  not  permit  me  to 
come  forward,  as  a  criminal  under  accusation,  to  plead  and  argue 
a  cause.  This  was  not  my  situation.  I  had  only  to  state  to  my 
constituents  a  common  transaction.  This  would  naturally  be  by 
way  of  narrative  or  statement  of  the  facts  in  their  order  of  time, 
establishing  these  facts  as  they  occur,  and  bringing  forward  the 
law  arising  on  them  and  pointing  to  the  Executive  the  course  he 
was  to  pursue.  I  suppose  it  more  self-respectful  to  present  it  as 
a  history  and  explanation  of  what  had  taken  place.  It  does  not, 
indeed,  in  that  form  display  the  subject  in  one  great  whole ;  but 
it  brings  forward  successively  a  number  of  questions,  solving 
themselves  as  they  arise,  and  leaving  no  one  unexamined.  And 
the  mind,  after  travelling  over  the  whole  case,  and  finding,  as  it 
goes  along,  that  all  has  been  considered,  and  all  is  right,  rests  in 
that  state  of  satisfaction  which  it  is  our  object  to  produce.  In 
truth,  I  have  never  known  a  case  which  presented  so  many 
distinct  questions,  having  no  dependence  on  one  another,  nor 
belonging  even  to  the  same  branches  of  jurisprudence.  After  all, 
I  offer  this  as  explanation,  not  justification,  of  the  order  I  adopted. 
What  the  issue  of  the  case  ought  to  be,  no  unbiased  man  can 
doubt.  What  it  will  be,  no  one  can  tell.  The  judge's  inveteracy 
is  profound,  and  his  mind  of  that  gloomy  malignity  which  will 
never  let  him  forego  the  opportunity  of  satiating  it  011  a  victim. 
His  decisions,  his  instructions  to  a  jury,  his  allowances  and  dis 
allowances  and  garblings  of  evidence,  must  all  be  subjects  of 
appeal.  I  consider  that  as  my  only  chance  of  saving  my  fortune 
from  entire  wreck.  And  to  whom  is  my  appeal?  from  the  judge 
in  Burr's  case  to  himself  and  his  associate  judges  in  the  case 
of  Marbury  v.  Madison.  Not  exactly,  however.  I  observe  old 
Gushing  is  dead.  At  length,  then,  we  have  a  chance  of  getting 
a  Republican  majority  in  the  Supreme  judiciary.  For  ten  years 
has  that  branch  braved  the  spirit  and  will  of  the  nation,  after 
the  nation  had  manifested  its  will  by  a  complete  reform  in  every 


1810.  LETTERS,    ETC.  493 

branch  depending  on  them.  The  event  is  a  fortunate  one,  and  so 
timed  as  to  be  a  Godsend  to  me.  I  am  sure  its  importance  to 
the  nation  will  be  felt,  and  the  occasion  employed  to  complete 
the  great  operation  they  have  so  long  been  executing,  by  the 
appointment  of  a  decided  Republican,  with  nothing  equivocal 
about  him.  But  who  will  it  be?  The  misfortune  of  Bidwell 
removes  an  able  man  from  the  competition.  Can  any  other 
bring  equal  qualifications  to  those  of  Lincoln  ?  I  know  he  was 
not  deemed  a  profound  common  lawyer;  but  was  there  ever  a 
profound  common  lawyer  known  in  one  of  the  Eastern  States  ? 
There  never  was,  nor  never  can  be,  one  from  those  States.  The 
basis  of  their  law  is  neither  common  nor  civil;  it  is  an  original, 
if  any  compound  can  so  be  called.  Its  foundation  seems  to  have 
been  laid  in  the  spirit  and  principles  of  Jewish  law,  incorporated 
with  some  words  and  phrases  of  common  law,  and  an  abundance 
of  notions  of  their  own.  This  makes  an  amalgam  sui  generis; 
and  it  is  well  known  that  a  man  first  and  thoroughly  initiated 
into  the  principles  of  one  system  of  law  can  never  become  pure 
and  sound  in  any  other.  Lord  Mansfield  was  a  splendid  proof 
of  this.  Therefore  I  say  there  never  was,  nor  can  be,  a  profound 
common  lawyer  from  those  States.  Sullivan  had  the  reputation 
of  pre-eminence  there  as  a  common  lawyer,  but  we  have  his  His 
tory  of  Land  Titles,  which  gives  us  his  measure.  Mr.  Lincoln 
is,  I  believe,  considered  as  learned  in  their  laws  as  any  one  they 
have.  Federalists  say  that  Parsons  is  better;  but  the  criticalness 
of  the  present  nomination  puts  him  out  of  question.  As  the 
great  mass  of  the  functions  of  the  new  judge  are  to  be  performed 
in  his  own  district,  Lincoln  will  be  most  unexceptionable  and 
acceptable  there,  and  on  the  Supreme  bench  equal  to  any  one  who 
can  be  brought  from  thence.  Add  to  this  his  integrity,  political 
firmness,  and  unimpeachable  character,  and  I  believe  no  one  can 
be  found  to  whom  there  will  not  be  more  serious  objections. 

You  seem  to  think  it  would  be  best  to  ascertain  the  probable 
result  before  making  a  proposition  to  Congress  to  defend  Liv 
ingston's  suit.  On  mature  consideration  I  think  it  better  that 
no  such  proposition  should  be  made.  The  debates  there  would  fix 
the  case  as  a  party  one,  and  we  are  the  minority  in  the  judiciary 
department,  and  especially  in  the  Federal  branch  of  it  here.  Till 


494  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1811. 

Congress  can  be  thoroughly  put  in  possession  of  all  the  points 
in  the  case,  it  is  best  they  should  let  it  lie.  Livingston,  by  re 
moving  it  into  the  judiciary,  has  fairly  relinquished  all  claims  on 
their  interference.  I  am  confident  that  Congress  will  act  soundly 
whenever  we  can  give  them  a  knowledge  of  the  whole  case.  But 
I  tire  you  with  this  business,  and  end,  therefore,  with  repeating 
assurances  of  my  constant  attachment  and  respect. 


GALLATIN    TO   MADISON. 

30th  November,  1810. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  enclose  the  substance  of  a  financial  paragraph, 
also  a  statement  of  the  receipts  and  expenditures  of  the  year  end 
ing  30th  September  last,  and  an  estimate  of  those  of  this  quarter. 
These  will  supply  you  with  all  the  facts  on  which  the  paragraph 
is  founded. 

In  the  paragraph  for  military  schools  I  would  place  in  the 
most  conspicuous  point  of  view  (when  speaking  of  revision  of 
existing  law)  the  necessity  of  placing  them  on  a  respectable 
footing.  It  is  now  worse  than  none.  I  believe  that  no  teacher 
but  a  drawing-master  is  allowed  out  of  the  corps,  and  I  know 
that  Hassler  as  Professor  of  Mathematics  was  discharged  as  not 
authorized  by  law. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  MADISON. 

5th  January,  1811. 

DEAR  SIR,— At  request  of  Mr.  Astor,  I  beg  to  be  informed 
whether  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Bentson,  can  be  permitted  to  have  a 
passage  on  board  the  public  vessel  which  is  to  take  Mr.  Erving 
to  Europe.  I  told  Mr.  B.  that  I  would  try  to  ascertain  the  fact 
before  Monday.  I  have  thrown  some  notes  on  the  back  of  Mr. 
Astor's  letter ;  be  pleased  to  return  his  English  passport. 


1811.  LETTERS,    ETC.  495 

Mr.  Astor  sent  me  a  verbal  message  that  in  case  of  non-re 
newal  of  the  charter  of  the  Bank  United  States  all  his  funds  and 
those  of  his  friends,  to  the  amount  of  two  millions  of  dollars, 
would  be  at  the  command  of  government,  either  in  importing 
specie,  circulating  any  government  paper,  or  in  any  other  way 
best  calculated  to  prevent  any  injury  arising  from  the  dissolu 
tion  of  the  bank.  Mr.  Bentson  told  me  that  in  this  instance 
profit  was  not  his  object,  and  that  he  would  go  great  lengths, 
partly  from  pride,  and  partly  from  wish  to  see  the  bank  down. 
As  there  will  be  no  time  to  be  lost,  I  think  that  I  had  better 
open  a  correspondence  with  him  on  the  subject. 

My  cold  has  prevented  my  calling  on  you  on  both  subjects. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO    MADISON. 

[March,  1811.] 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  long  and  seriously  reflected  on  the  present 
state  of  things  and  on  my  personal  situation.  This  has  for  some 
time  been  sufficiently  unpleasant,  and  nothing  but  a  sense  of 
public  duty  and  attachment  to  yourself  could  have  induced 
me  to  retain  it  to  this  day.  But  1  am  convinced  that  in  neither 
respect  can  I  be  any  longer  useful  under  existing  circumstances. 
In  a  government  organized  like  that  of  the  United  States,  a 
government  not  too  strong  for  effecting  its  principal  object, — 
the  protection  of  national  rights  against  foreign  aggressions, 
and  particularly  under  circumstances  as  adverse  and  embarrass 
ing  as  those  under  which  the  United  States  are  now  placed, — it 
appears  to  me  that  not  only  capacity  and  talents  in  the  Adminis 
tration,  but  also  a  perfect  heartfelt  cordiality  amongst  its  mem 
bers,  are  essentially  necessary  to  command  the  public  confidence 
and  to  produce  the  requisite  union  of  views  and  action  between 
the  several  branches  of  government,  In  at  least  one  of  these 
points  your  present  Administration  is  defective,  and  the  effects, 
already  sensibly  felt,  become  every  day  more  extensive  and  fatal. 
New  subdivisions  and  personal  factions,  equally  hostile  to  your- 


496  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  -1811. 

self  and  to  the  general  welfare,  daily  acquire  additional  strength. 
Measures  of  vital  importance  have  been  and  are  defeated ;  every 
operation,  even  of  the  most  simple  and  ordinary  nature,  is  pre 
vented  or  impeded;  the  embarrassments  of  government,  great 
as  from  foreign  causes  they  already  are,  are  unnecessarily  in 
creased ;  public  confidence  in  the  public  councils  and  in  the 
Executive  is  impaired,  and  every  day  seems  to  increase  every 
one  of  these  evils.  Such  state  of  things  cannot  last;  a  radical 
and  speedy  remedy  has  become  absolutely  necessary.  What  that 
ought  to  be,  what  change  would  best  promote  the  success  of  your 
Administration  and  the  welfare  of  the  United  States,  is  not  for 
me  to  say/  I  can  only  judge  for  myself,  and  I  clearly  perceive 
that  my  continuing  a  member  of  the  present  Administration  is 
no  longer  of  any  public  utility,  invigorates  the  opposition  against 
yourself,  and  must  necessarily  be  attended  with  an  increased  loss 
of  reputatym  to  myself.  Under  these  impressions,  not  without 
reluctance,  and  after  having,  perhaps,  hesitated  too  long  in  hopes 
of  a  favorable  change,  I  beg  leave  to  tender  you  my  resignation, 
to  take  place  at  such  day,  within  a  reasonable  time,  as  you 
will  think' most  consistent  with  the  public  service.  I  hope  that 
I  hardly  need  add  any  expressions  of  my  respect  and  sincere 
personal  attachment  to  you,  of  the  regret  I  will  feel  on  leaving 
you  at  this  critical  time,  and  the  grateful  sense  I  ever  will  retain 
of  your  Jfindness  to  me. 


RICHARD   BRENT  TO   GALLATIN, 


March  22,  1811. 

DEAR  SIR, — -In  consequence  of  Colonel  Monroe's  being  in 
Albemarle  when  my  letter  to  him  reached  Richmond,  no  answer 
was  received  from  him  till  this  moment,  and  I  hasten  without  a 
moment's  delay  to  enclose  it  to  you.  I  have  another  letter  which 
covered  the  one  I  now  send  you.  I  have  no  doubt  from  its 
tenor  that  Colonel  Monroe  will  accept  of  the  office  of  Secretary 
of  State ;  he  has  asked  my  opinion  on  the  subject,  and  I  shall, 

1  Postmarked  Dumfries,  Va.,  23d  March. 


1811.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  497 

without  hesitation  or  delay,  press  him  with  importunity  on  the 
subject ;  he  seems  to  be  extremely  anxious,  previous  to  his  final 
decision,  to  have  a  personal  interview  with  the  President,  and 
suggests  to  me,  if  this  measure  meets  with  the  approbation  of 

oo  /  -1-  A 

the  President,  that  the  President  should  without  delay  write  to 
him  to  go  on  to  Washington.  He  observes  in  his  letter  to  me 
that  the  adjustment  of  his  accounts  with  the  Treasury  may  serve 
as  the  ostensible  cause  of  his  trip  to  Washington. 

With  great  sincerity,  respect,  and  affection,  believe  me,  dear 
sir,  your  obedient  servant. 

[Enclosure.] 

MONROE   TO   BRENT. 

RICHMOND,  March  18,  1811. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — When  your  letter  reached  this  place  I  was 
in  Albemarle,  so  that  I  had  not  the  pleasure  to  receive  it  until 
after  my  return  on  the  14th  instant.  Its  contents  gave  me  much 
concern,  which  has  not  been  removed  by  the  reflection  which  I 
have  been  able  since  to  bestow  on  the  subject.  I  have  great 
sensibility  to  the  proposition  which  seems  to  be  made  to  me 
through  you  as  a  mutual  friend,  to  come  into  the  Department 
of  State,  and  many  strong  motives  prompt  me  to  accede  to  it ; 
but  the  appointment  which  I  now  hold  presents  a  most  serious 
obstacle.  I  feel  that  I  owe  to  this  State  the  utmost  gratitude  for 
this  recent  and  strong  proof  of  its  confidence,  and  I  fear  that 
I  should  be  thought  to  fail  in  that  delicate  and  important  duty 
if  I  relinquished  the  station  in  which  it  has  placed  me.  I  shall 
be  glad  to  receive  your  further  sentiments  on  this  subject.  Do 
you  think  it  possible  for  me  to  withdraw  from  the  Executive  of 
this  State  without  exposing  myself  to  this  painful  imputation, 
and  even  lessening  the  weight  which  I  might  otherwise  carry 
into  the  government? 

You  intimate  that  the  situation  of  the  country  is  such  as  to 
leave  me  no  alternative.  I  am  aware  that  our  public  affairs  are 
far  from  being  in  a  tranquil  and  secure  state.  I  may  add  that 
there  is  much  reason  to  fear  that  a  crisis  is  approaching  of  a 
very  dangerous  tendency ;  one  which  menaces  the  overthrow  of 
the  whole  Republican  party.  Is  the  Administration  impressed 
VOL.  i. — 33 


498  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1811. 

with  this  sentiment  and  prepared  to  act  on  it  ?  Are  things  in 
such  a  state  as  to  allow  the  Administration  to  take  the  whole 
subject  into  consideration,  and  to  provide  for  the  safety  of  the 
country  and  of  free  government  by  such  measures  as  circum 
stances  may  require  and  a  comprehensive  view  of  them  suggest? 
Or  are  we  pledged  by  what  is  already  done  to  remain  spectators 
of  the  interior  movement,  in  the  expectation  of  some  change 
abroad  as  the  ground  on  which  we  are  to  act  ?  I  have  no  doubt 
from  my  knowledge  of  the  President  and  Mr.  Gallatin,  with  the 
former  of  whom  I  have  been  long  and  intimately  connected  in 
friendship,  and  for  both  of  whom,  in  great  and  leading  points 
of  character,  I  have  the  highest  consideration  and  respect,  that 
if  I  came  into  the  government  the  utmost  cordiality  would  sub 
sist  between  us,  and  that  any  opinions  which  I  might  entertain 
and  express  respecting  our  public  aifairs  would  receive,  so  far 
as  circumstances  would  permit,  all  the  attention  to  which  they 
might  be  entitled.  But  if  our  course  is  fixed,  and  the  destiny 
of  our  country  dependent  on  arrangements  already  made,  on 
measures  already  taken,  I  do  not  perceive  how  it  would  be  pos 
sible  for  me  to  render  any  service,  at  this  time,  in  the  general 
government. 

My  impression  is  that  no  consideration  would  justify  my  with 
drawing  from  the  Executive  of  this  Commonwealth,  unless  it 
had  sufficient  force  to  make  it  a  matter  of  duty,  the  obligation 
of  which  would  not  be  felt  by  myself  alone,  but  be  distinctly 
understood  by  the  public.  Having,  however,  never  failed  to 
accept  a  trust  to  which  my  duty  called  me,  I  should  not  hesitate 
to  accept  that  proposed  if  I  perceived  that  the  obligation  to  do 
so  was  paramount  to  that  which  I  owe  to  this  State  under  my 
present  appointment. 

Should  there  be  any  objection  to  communicate  with  me  in  this 
mode  on  these  topics,  and  a  personal  interview  be  preferred,  I 
would  with  pleasure  attend  at  Washington  for  the  purpose  on 
receiving  such  an  intimation. 

I  am  very  sincerely  your  friend  and  servant. 


1811.  LETTERS,    ETC.  499 


MADISON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIER,  September  14,  1811. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  enclosed  letter  was  brought  to  me  by  the 
young  gentleman  in  whose  behalf  it  was  written.  He  had  other 
respectable  recommendations  addressed  to  you,  which  he  has 
doubtless  forwarded.  His  personal  appearance  does  not  tnake 
against  him.  He  therefore  stands  in  fair  comparison  with  the 
other  candidates  to  be  taken  into  view,  and  who  are  better 
known  to  you  than  to  me. 

The  accounts  by  the  John  Adams  fortify  the  ground  on  which 
we  stand  as  to  the  cessation  of  the  French  decrees,  but  are  liable 
to  unfavorable  remarks  in  several  points  of  view.  It  is  evident, 
however,  that  there  is  an  increasing  desire  in  the  French  gov 
ernment  to  be  thought  well  disposed  towards  us ;  the  policy  of 
which,  particularly  at  the  present  moment,  explains  itself.  Mr. 
Foster,  in  pursuance  of  instructions  by  the  special  messenger, 
has  put  in  a  formal  demand  of  disavowal  and  reparation  of  the 
affair  of  the  Little  Belt,  accompanying  it  with  a  copy  of  the 
instructions  under  which  Bingham  cruised.  The  answer  of  Mr. 
Monroe  refers  to  and  repeats  the  explanation  given  at  Washing 
ton,  adhering  to  the  ground  on  which  no  notice  of  the  case, 
beyond  disavowal  of  hostile  orders,  could  be  taken  without  the 
obvious  preliminary  on  the  part  of  the  British  government. 
The  tenor  of  the  instructions  to  Bingham,  and  the  manner  of 
the  communication,  afforded  an  apt  occasion  for  expressing  the 
disposition  here  to  meet  every  proof  of  an  amicable  one  on  the 
other  side  in  the  way  most  suited  to  a  favorable  and  general 
adjustment  of  differences.  Late  communications  from  Mr. 
Erving  show  that  the  Danish  depredations  have  ceased,  and 
that  the  loss  on  the  whole  will  be  so  reduced  as  to  form  no 
essential  proportion  to  what  was  threatened.  The  cases  on 
which  the  Danish  government  was  most  inflexible  were  those 
in  which  our  vessels  had  availed  themselves  of  British  convoy; 
most  of  them  appeared  to  be  desperate. 

We  are  just  setting  out  on  a  visit  for  two  or  three  days  to 
Monticello.     Mr.  Jefferson  was  with  us  a  week  or  two  ago,  and 


500  WRITINGS    OP    GALLATIN.  1812. 

seemed  to  enjoy  good  health,  with  the  exception  of  a  trouble 
some  rheumatic  affection  near  the  hip. 

Mrs.  Madison  offers  Mrs.  Gallatin  her  affectionate  respects. 
Be  pleased  to  add  mine,  and  to  accept  them  for  yourself. 


GALLATIN  TO   MADISON. 

[1812.] 

DEAR  SIR, — I  never  have  from  personal  considerations  in 
terfered  with  appointments,  but  for  once  feel  compelled  to  do  it. 
It  appears  to  me  that  Mr.  Eustis  has  a  rooted  aversion  for  my 
friend  Chrystie.  He  is  one  of  the  very  few  for  whom  all  unite. 
The  New  York  delegation  was,  in  common  with  others,  requested 
to  recommend  jointly.  However  discordant  on  other  points, 
all  the  members  present,  with  the  exception  of  Mitchill,  have 
recommended  him  for  lieutenant-colonel.  Mr.  Eustis  places  him 
on  the  list  only  as  major,  and,  without  judging  for  himself,  I 
had  rather  that  he  should  not  re-enter  the  army  than  not  have 
the  rank  for  which  he  is  recommended.  When  from  the  want  of 
agreement  between  the  members  it  becomes  necessary  to  nomi 
nate  a  less  number  than  the  State  is  entitled  to;  why  reject  an 
almost  unanimous  recommendation,  and  a  man  in  whose  favor 
the  Vice-President  and  John  Smith  write  ?  I  could  add  more 
from  my  knowledge  of  the  city  of  New  York,  where  it  will  be 
a  better  received  appointment  than  any  other. 

The  reason  why  I  feel  on  this  occasion  is  because  I  apprehend 
that  I  am  the  innocent  cause  of  Chrystie's  being  obnoxious  to 
Mr.  Eustis.  It  cannot  be  concealed  that  he  (Chrystie)  is  a 
favorite  of  General  Wilkinson,  and  much  attached  to  him. 
The  enclosed  letter,  which  I  had  suppressed,  is  a  sufficient  proof 
of  it.  And  it  was  certainly  owing  to  Mr.  Chrystie's  connection 
with  Mrs.  G.'s  family  that  Wilkinson  first  noticed  him  and 
took  him  in  his  family.  That  a  young  man  of  warm  feelings 
should  have  gratitude  for  the  kind  treatment  he  thus  received 
from  the  general  was  a  natural  consequence,  and  for  which  no 
one  would  at  least  impute  blame.  It  is,  however,  the  only  cause 
of  prejudice;  and  I  will  much  regret  that  my  friendship,  instead 


1812.  LETTEES,    ETC.  501 

of  aiding  him,  should  ultimately  have  produced  such  a  contrary 
effect. 

Pardon  this  intrusion  ;  to  which  I  will  only  add  that,  not 
withstanding  what  I  felt,  I  would  not  have  made  it  had  I  not 
seen  on  the  lists  many  names  who  are  nominated  for  lieutenant- 
colonels  and  in  every  point  of  view  are  inferior  to  Chrystie. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   EZEKIEL  BACON,  M.  C. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  January  10,  1812. 

SIR, — In  answer  to  the  first  inquiry  of  the  Committee  of 
Ways  and  Means,  relative  to  the  interest  arising  on  the  pro 
posed  loan  of  1,200,000  dollars,  necessary  to  supply  the  de 
ficiency  in  the  receipts  of  the  year  1812,  I  beg  leave  to  observe 
that  that  item  was  not  included  amongst  the  expenses  of  that 
year,  because,  the  estimate  being  made  with  reference  to  the 
expenses  alone,  which  had  previously  been  authorized  by  law, 
and  a  considerable  proportion  of  those  on  account  of  the  public 
debt  falling  on  the  first  day  of  the  year,  it  would  not  have  been 
necessary,  in  that  view  of  the  subject,  to  borrow  that  sum  pre 
vious  to  that  day,  and  the  interest  would  not,  therefore,  have 
become  a  charge  till  the  year  1813. 

With  respect  to  the  second  inquiry  of  the  committee,  it  was 
certainly  contemplated,  in  conformity  with  the  recommendation 
of  the  President,  whose  expressions  were  adopted  in  the  report, 
to  raise  a  revenue  u  sufficient  at  least  to  defray_tiie__ordinary 
expenses  of  government  and  to  pay  the  interest  on  thejpublic 
debt,  including  that  on  new  loans  which  may  be  authorized." 
The  sum  of  about  nine  millions  of  dollars  was  assumed  as 
answering  that  description  for  the  present,  and  the  expression 
of  "  fixed  revenue,"  which  had  been  used  in  reference  to  existing 
circumstances,  was  inadvertently  applied  to  the  case  of  war.  It 
will  undoubtedly  be  proper,  as  remarked  by  the  committee,  to 
provide  annually  an  additional  and  gradually  increasing  revenue, 
sufficient  to  pay  the  interest  on  loans  required  in  the  event  of  war. 


502  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1812. 

If,  therefore,  the  loan  for  the  present  year  will,  according  to  the 
suggestion  of  the  committee,  amount  to  ten  millions  of  dollars, 
the  receipts  into  the  Treasury  to  be  provided  for  the  year  1813 
should,  on  those  data,  amount  to  about  9,600,000  dollars. 

The  committee  ask,  in  the  next  place,  the  best  opinion  which 
I  am  able  to  form  of  the  probable  amount  of  receipts  from  duties 
on  tonnage  and  merchandise  in  the  event  of  war. 

As  that  amount  will  depend  on  the  extent  of  the  commerce 
between  the  United  States  and  nations  at  peace  with  them, 
and  on  the  number  of  the  captures  respectively  made  by  our 
privateers  and  by  the  enemy,  it  is  a  matter  of  conjecture,  and 
not  a  subject  of  calculation ;  for  which  reason  it  was  stated  in 
the  report  that  the  amount  could  not  at  present  be  determined. 
Considering  the  rigorous  restrictions  laid  by  France  on  the  com 
merce  of  the  United  States  with  her  own  dominions  and  other 
countries  under  her  influence,  the  dangers  to  which  our  com 
merce  with  the  Baltic  and  with  China  will  be  exposed,  the 
relations  of  England  with  Portugal  and  with  Spain,  and  also 
that  no  inconsiderable  part  of  the  captures  made  by  our  privateers 
will  be  sent  into  foreign  ports,  a  great  defalcation  in  the  receipts 
on  duties  on  imported  merchandise  must  be  expected.  The 
amount,  under  existing  laws  and  circumstances,  has,  from  cor 
rect  data,  been  stated  in  the  annual  report  at  six  millions  of 
dollars.  It  would  in  my  opinion  be  unsafe,  in  an  estimate  of 
ways  and  means  intended  to  be  relied  on  with  certainty,  to 
calculate,  in  the  event  of  a  war,  on  more  than  2,500,000  dollars 
at  the  present  rate  of  duties.  - 

To  the  next  inquiry  of  the  committee,  respecting  the  increase 
of  those  duties  which  is  thought  practicable  and  advisable,  it  is 
answered,  without  hesitation,  that  the  rate  of  duties  may,  in 
the  event  of  war,  be  doubled  without  danger  or  inconvenience. 
There  will,  in  such  an  event,  be  less  danger  of  smuggling  at 
that  rate  than  there  is  now  with  the  existing  duties.  With  that 
increase,  the  duties  will  still  be  much  less  on  an  average  than 
those  paid  on  importations  in  England,  France,  and  most  other 
countries.  And  they  will  be  collected  with  more  ease  to  govern 
ment  and  less  inconvenience  to  the  people  than  could  be  devised 
to  the  same  amount  in  any  other  manner. 


1812.      .  LETTERS,    ETC.  503 

A  duty  on  imported  salt  might  now  be  calculated  on  at  least 
3,500,000  bushels;  but  in  the  time  of  war  cannot  be  estimated 
at  more  than  two  millions  of  bushels,  producing,  at  the  rate  of 
twenty  cents  per  bushel,  $400,000. 

The  duties  on  tonnage  and  imported  merchandise,  including 
the  former  duty  on  salt,  and  doubling  the  rate  of  all  others, 
would,  according  to  that  estimate,  amount  to  $5,400,000 

to  which  adding  the  proceeds  of  the  sales  of  public 
lands,  estimated,  as  by  annual  report,  at  600,000 

makes  an  aggregate  of  $6,000,000 

and  leaves  a  deficiency  of  3,600,000 

in  order  to  complete  the  net  revenue  of  $9,600,000 

wanted  for  the  service  of  1813. 

On  the  basis  of  annual  loans  of  ten  millions  of  dollars  during 
the  continuance  of  the  war  (which  is  the  sum  assumed  by  the 
committee,  and  which,  considering  the  expenses  already  voted  by 
Congress,  is  not  more  than  will  be  wanted),  and  estimating  at 
the  lowest  rate  the  interest  on  the  loan  of  1813,  the  deficiency 
for  1814,  to  be  provided  for  by  other  resources,  will  amount  to 
4,200,000  dollars.  The  expenses  of  assessment  and  collection, 
and  incidental  losses  on  the  internal  taxes,  from  the  proceeds  of 
which  this  deficiency  must  be  supplied,  may  be  estimated  at  15  per 
cent.  In  order  to  produce  a  net  revenue  of  $4,200,000  the  gross 
amount  of  taxes  must,  therefore,  be  near  five  millions  of  dollars. 
As  the  taxes  which  may  be  organized  during  the  present  session 
of  Congress  will  not  become  due  till  the  ensuing  year,  and  as 
it  is  sufficiently  ascertained  from  universal  experience  that  taxes 
will  not  produce  their  full  nominal  amount  in  the  first  year  they 
are  in  operation,  it  may  be  relied  on  that  a  gross  amount  of  five 
millions,  intended  to  produce  a  net  revenue  of  4,200,000  dollars, 
will  not  yield  that  sum  until  the  year  1814,  nor  produce  in  1813 
more  than  3,600,000  dollars.  Five  millions  of  dollars  will, 
therefore,  be  assumed  as  the  gross  amount  of  taxes,  including  the 
expenses  of  assessment  and  collection  and  the  incidental  losses, 
necessary  to  be  raised  at  this  time.  That  sum  is  calculated  to 
cover  the  interest  on  the  loans  of  ten  millions  a  year,  wanted  for 
the  service  of  the  years  1812  and  1813;  leaving  the  selection  of 
the  additional  taxes,  which  may  hereafter  be  necessary  to  provide 


504  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1812. 

for  the  interest  of  subsequent  loans,  to  be  made  according  to  the 
experience  which  will  be  aiforded  by  those  two  years. 

Before  I  proceed  to  answer  the  inquiry  of  the  committee  re 
specting  a  selection  of  the  internal  taxes  now  necessary,  permit 
me  to  observe  that  it  was  stated  in  the  annual  report  of  Decem 
ber  10,  1808,  that  "no  internal  taxes,  either  direct  or  indirect, 
were  contemplated,  even  in  the  case  of  hostilities  carried  against 
the  two  great  belligerent  powers."  An  assertion  which  renders 
it  necessary  to  show  that  the  prospect  then  held  out  was  not 
deceptive,  and  why  it  has  not  been  realized. 

The  balance  in  the  Treasury  amounted  at  that  time  to  near 
fourteen  millions  of  dollars.  But  aware  that  that  surplus  would 
in  a  short  time  be  expended,  and  having  stated  that  the  revenue 
was  daily  decreasing,  it  was  in  the  same  report  proposed  "  that 
all  the  existing  duties  should  be  doubled  on  importations  sub 
sequent  to  the  first  day  of  January,  1809."  As  the  net  revenue 
accrued  from  customs  during  the  three  years  1809,  1810,  and 
1811  has,  without  any  increase  of  duties,  exceeded  $26,000,000, 
it  follows  that  if  the  measure  then  submitted  had  been  adopted 
we  should,  after  making  a  large  deduction  for  any  supposed 
diminution  of  consumption  arising  from  the  proposed  increase, 
have  had  at  this  time  about  twenty  millions  of  dollars  on  hand, — 
a  sum  greater  than  the  net  amount  of  the  proposed  internal  taxes 
for  four  years. 

In  proportion  as  the  ability  to  borrow  is  diminished  the 
necessity  of  resorting  to  taxation  is  increased.  It  is  therefore 
also  proper  to  observe  that  at -that  time  the  subject  of  the  re 
newal  of  the  charter  of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  had  been 
referred  by  the  Senate  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  nor 
had  any  symptom  appeared  from  which  its  absolute  dissolution 
without  any  substitute  could  have  then  been  anticipated.  The 
renewal  in  some  shape,  and  on  a  more  extensive  scale,  was  con 
fidently  relied  on,  and  accordingly,  in  the  report  made  during 
the  same  session  to  the  Senate,  the  propriety  of  increasing  the 
capital  of  the  bank  to  $30,000,000  was  submitted,  with  the  con 
dition  that  that  institution  should,  if  required,  be  obliged  to  lend 
one-half  of  its  capital  to  the  United  States.  The  amount  thus 
loaned  might,  without  any  inconvenience,  have  been  increased 


1812.  LETTERS,    ETC.  505 

to  twenty  millions ;  and  with  $20,000,000  in  hand,  and  loans 
being  secured  for  $20,000,000  more,  without  any  increase  of 
the  stock  of  the  public  debt  at  market,  internal  taxation  would 
have  been  unnecessary  for  at  least  four  years  of  war,  nor  any 
other  resource  been  wanted  than  an  additional  annual  loan  of 
five  millions, — a  sum  sufficiently  moderate  to  be  obtained  from 
individuals  and  on  favorable  terms. 

These  observations  are  made  only  in  reference  to  the  finances 
and  resources  of  the  general  government.  Considerations  of  a 
different  nature  have  on  both  these  subjects  produced  a  different 
result,  which  makes  a  resort  to  internal  taxes  now  necessary,  and 
will  render  loans  more  difficult  to  obtain,  and  their  terms  less 
favorable.  But  the  resources  of  the  country  remain  the  same, 
and,  if  promptly  and  earnestly  brought  into  action,  will  be  found 
amply  sufficient  to  meet  the  present  emergency.  With  respect 
to  internal  taxes,  the  whole  amount  to  be  raised  is  so  moderate, 
when  compared  either  with  the  population  and  wealth  of  the 
United  States  or  with  the  burdens  laid  on  European  nations  by 
their  governments,  that  no  doubt  exists  of  the  ability  or  will  of 
the  people  to  pay  without  any  real  inconvenience,  and  with  cheer 
fulness,  the  proposed  war  taxes.  For  it  is  still  hoped  that  the 
ordinary  peace  revenue  of  the  United  States  will  be  sufficient  to 
reimburse,  within  a  reasonable  period,  the  loans  obtained  during 
the  war,  and  that  neither  a  perpetual  and  increasing  public  debt 
nor  a  permanent  system  of  ever-progressing  taxation  shall  be 
entailed  on  the  nation.  These  evils  cannot,  however,  be  other 
wise  avoided  than  by  the  speedy  organization  of  a  certain  revenue. 
Delays  in  that  respect,  and  a  reliance  on  indefinite  loans  to  defray 
the  war  expenditure,  the  ordinary  expenses  of  government,  and 
the  interest  on  the  loans  themselves,  would  be  equally  unsafe  and 
ruinous, — would  in  a  short  time  injure  public  credit,  impair  the 
national  resources,  and  ultimately  render  much  heavier  and  per 
petual  taxes  absolutely  necessary. 

Of  the  gross  amount  of  $5,000,000,  to  be  now  provided 
according  to  the  preceding  estimates  by  internal  taxation,  it  is 
respectfully  proposed  that  3,000,000  should  be  raised  by  a  direct 
tax  and  2,000,000  by  indirect  taxes. 

The  sum  of  3,000,000  will  not,  considering  the  increase  of 


506  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1812. 

population,  be  a  much  greater  direct  tax  than  that  of  2,000,000 
voted  in  the  year  1798.  To  this  permit  me  to  add  another  view 
of  the  subject : 

The  direct  taxes  laid  by  the  several  States  during  the  last  years 
of  the  Revolutionary  war  were  generally  more  heavy  than  could 
be  paid  with  convenience;  but  during  the  years  1785  to  1789  an 
annual  direct  tax  of  more  than  $200,000  ($205,189)  was  raised 
in  Pennsylvania,  which  was  not  oppressive,  and  was  paid  with 
great  punctuality.  The  increase  of  population  of  that  State 
between  the  years  1787-1812  is  in  the  ratio  of  about  4  to  9. 
A  tax  of  $450,000  payable  in  the  year  1813  is  not  higher  in 
proportion  to  population  alone,  and  without  regard  even  to  the 
still  greater  increase  of  wealth  and  of  circulating  medium,  than 
a  tax  of  $200,000  was  in  the  year  1787.  But  the  quota  of 
Pennsylvania  on  a  tax  of  $3,000,000  will  (counting  Orleans 
as  a  State)  hardly  exceed  $365,000.  The  proposed  tax  will 
therefore,  so  far  as  relates  to  Pennsylvania,  be  near  20  per  cent, 
lighter,  in  proportion  to  the  respective  population,  than  that 
paid  during  the  years  1785  to  1789. 

The  rule  of  apportionment  prescribed  by  the  Constitution 
operates  with  perhaps  as  much  equality  as  is  practicable  in  rela 
tion  to  States  not  materially  differing  in  wrealth  and  situation. 
It  may  therefore  be  inferred  that  a  direct  tax  which  is  not 
greater  than  Pennsylvania  can  pay  with  facility  will  not  press 
heavily  upon  any  of  the  other  Atlantic  States.  It  is  only  in 
reference  to  the  Western  States  that  the  constitutional  rule  of 
apportionment  according  to  the  respective  number  of  inhabitants 
in  each  State  may  be  supposed  to  be  unequal.  Being  at  a  greater 
distance  from  a  market,  and  having,  on  account  of  the  recent 
date  of  their  settlements,  less  accumulated  capital,  it  is  certainly 
true  that  they  cannot,  in  proportion  to  their  population,  pay 
as  much  or  with  the  same  facility  as  the  Atlantic  States.  Two 
considerations  will,  however,  much  diminish  the  weight,  if  they 
do  not  altogether  obviate  that  objection: 

1.  Of  the  articles  actually  consumed  in  the  Western  States 
there  are  two  of  general  consumption  on  Avhich  duties  are  laid 
or  proposed  to  be  laid,  and  on  which,  being  articles  produced  in 
those  States,  they  will  pay  nothing,  or  less  than  the  Atlantic 


1812.  LETTERS,    ETC.  507 

States.  On  salt  they  will  pay  nothing,  as  the  whole  quantity 
consumed  there  is  of  domestic  origin ;  and  this  observation 
affords  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  restoration  of  the  duty  on 
that  article,  since  it  will  tend  to  equalize  the  operation  of  the 
direct  tax.  A  considerable  part  of  the  sugar  those  States  con 
sume — nearly  7,000,000  of  pounds — is  also  the  produce  of  the 
maple,  and  pays  no  duty.  And  in  time  of  war  it  is  probable 
that  the  residue  of  their  consumption  will,  in  a  great  degree, 
consist  of  New  Orleans  sugar,  also  duty  free. 

2.  A  considerable  portion  of  the  direct  taxes  in  those  States 
is  laid  on  lands  owned  by  persons  residing  in  other  States,  and 
will  not  fall  on  the  inhabitants.  It  appears  by  a  late  official 
statement  that  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  land  tax  of  the  State 
of  Ohio  are  raised  on  lands  owned  by  non-residents.  The  por 
tion  of  the  quota  of  that  State  on  the  United  States  direct  tax, 
which  will  be  payable  by  its  inhabitants,  will,  for  that  reason 
alone,  be  reduced  to  one-third  part  of  the  nominal  amount  of 
such  quota.  And  although  the  proportion  may  not  be  the  same 
in  the  other  Western  States,  it  is  well  known  that  a  similar 
result,  though  not  perhaps  to  the  same  extent,  will  take  place 
in  all. 

From  every  view  which  has  been  taken  of  the  subject,  it 
satisfactorily  appears  that  the  proposed  amount  of  3,000,000  is 
moderate,  and  cannot  be  productive  of  any  real  inconvenience, 
provided  that  the  objects  on  which  the  tax  shall  be  assessed  be 
properly  selected. 

A  direct  tax  may  be  assessed  either  on  the  whole  amount  of 
the  property  or  income  of  the  people,  or  on  certain  specific  objects 
selected  for  that  purpose.  The  first  mode  may,  on  abstract  prin 
ciples,  be  considered  as  most  correct;  and  a  tax  laid  in  case  of 
selection  on  the  same  articles  in  all  the  States,  as  was  done  in  the 
direct  tax  of  1798,  is  recommended  by  its  uniformity,  and  sup 
ported  by  respectable  authority.  It  is  nevertheless  believed  that 
the  systems  of  taxation  respectively  adopted  by  the  several  States, 
matured,  modified,  and  improved  as  they  have  been  by  long  ex 
perience,  will  generally  be  found  to  be  best  adapted  to  the  local 
situation  and  circumstances  of  each  State;  and  they  are  certainly 
most  congenial  with  the  feelings  and  habits  of  the  people.  It  is, 


508  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1812. 

therefore,  proposed  that  the  direct  tax  should  be  laid  and  assessed 
in  each  State  upon  the  same  objects  of  taxation  on  which  the 
direct  taxes  levied  under  the  authority  of  the  State  are  laid  and 
assessed. 

The  attempt  made  under  the  former  direct  tax  of  the  United 
States  to  equalize  the  tax,  by  authorizing  a  board  of  commis 
sioners  in  each  State  to  correct  the  valuations  made  by  the  local 
assessors,  was  attended  with  considerable  expense  and  productive 
of  great  delay.  In  order  to  obviate  this  inconvenience,  it  is  pro 
posed  that  the  quota  assigned  to  each  State,  according  to  the  rule 
prescribed  by  the  Constitution,  should  be  apportioned  by  law 
amongst  the  several  counties,  towns,  or  other  subdivisions  of  each 
State,  adopting  in  each  State  where  a  State  tax  is  now  levied 
the  apportionment  of  the  State  tax,  whether  that  be  an  absolute 
quota  fixed  by  a  previous  State  law  on  the  county  or  town,  or 
whether  it  be  only  the  amount  which  shall  appear  to  have  been 
last  laid  on  such  county  by  the  operation  of  the  general  State 
laws  imposing  a  direct  tax ;  making  the  apportionment  in  the 
States  where  no  State  tax  is  now  levied,  according  to  the  best 
information  and  materials  which  can  be  obtained;  and  authoriz 
ing  the  States  respectively  to  alter  the  apportionment  thus  made 
by  law  at  any  time  previous  to  the  day  fixed  by  law  for  assessing 
the  United  States  tax  on  individuals.  The  whole  process  of 
assessment  will  thereby  be  reduced  to  that  of  assessing  the  quota 
of  each  county,  town,  or  other  subdivision  on  the  land  and  in 
habitants  of  such  subdivision.  It  will  be  as  simple,  and  may  be 
effected  as  promptly  and  with  as  little  expense,  as  the  assessment 
of  a  county  tax;  and,  the  objects  of  taxation  being  the  same,  it 
may  be  still  more  facilitated  by  authorizing  an  adoption  of  the 
State  assessment  on  individuals,  whenever  it  can  be  obtained  from 
the  proper  authority. 

With  respect  to  indirect  taxes,  it  does  not  appear  necessary  to 
resort  to  any  other  than  those  which  had  been  formerly  levied 
by  the  United  States.  As  they  were  in  operation  during  several 
years,  their  defects,  and  the  modifications  and  improvements  of 
which  they  are  susceptible,  are  better  understood  than  new  taxes 
could  be.  With  some  alterations  they  may  produce  the  amount 
now  wanted;  and  it  does  not  appear  that  any  other  equally  pro- 


1812.  LETTERS,    ETC.  509 

ductive  could  be  substituted  with  any  real  advantage.  The  gross 
amount  of  those  taxes  in  the  year  1801  was  near  one  million  of 
dollars.  They  would,  according  to  the  increase  of  population  and 
without  any  augmentation  in  their  rate,  yield  now  near  1,400,000 
dollars.  An  average  increase  of  about  50  per  cent,  in  the  rate 
would  produce  the  intended  gross  amount  of  two  millions.  But  it 
is  believed  that  that  increase  ought  not  to  be  the  same  in  all  those 
taxes,  and  that  some  are  susceptible  of  greater  augmentation  or 
extension  than  others. 

1.  Duties  on  domestic  spirits  distilled. — There  is  not  any  more 
eligible  object  of  taxation  than  ardent  spirits ;  but  the  mode  of 
taxation  is  liable  to  strong  objections,  particularly  with  respect 
to  persons  who  are  not  professional  manufacturers,  and  who  only 
occasionally  distil  the  produce  of  their  farms.     It  is  therefore 
proposed   that  the  duties  on  the  quantity  of  spirits  distilled 
should  be  levied  only  on  spirits  distilled  from  foreign  materials, 
at  the  rate  of  ten  cents  per  gallon  distilled ;  and  on  other  dis 
tilleries  employing  stills  the  aggregate  of  which  shall  contain 
more  than  four  hundred  gallons,  at  the  rate  of  three  cents  per 
gallon  distilled ;  and  that  instead  of  a  duty  on  the  spirits,  or  of 
licenses  in  proportion  to  the  time  employed,  all  other  distillers 
should  only  pay  an  annual  tax  of  five  dollars  for  each  still  solely 
employed  in  the  distillation  of  fruit,  and  of  fifteen  dollars  for 
each  still  otherwise  employed.     This  tax  may  also,  still,  with 
out  reference  to  time,  be  made  to  vary  according  to  the  size  of  the 
stills.     At  those  rates  this  class  of  duties  is  estimated  to  produce 
at  most  400,000  dollars ;  and  it  is  intended  in  that  case  that 
another  duty  should  be  levied  on  the  same  article,  in  the  shape 
of  licenses  to  retailers.     By  the  adoption  of  that  mode  the  ex 
penses  of  collection  will  be  considerably  diminished,  penalties 
for  not  entering  stills  will  be  unnecessary,  and  they  will  be  con 
fined,  with  respect  to  country  stills,  to  the  case  of  clandestine 
distilling  without  paying  the  tax. 

2.  Duties  on  refined  sugar. — A  duty  double  of  that  hereto 
fore  laid,  viz.,  at  the  rate  of  four  cents  per  pound,  is  estimated 
to  produce  200,000  dollars.     The  drawback  both  of  that  duty 
and  of  that  on  the  importation  of  the  raw  material  to  be  al 
lowed. 


510  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1812. 

3.  Licenses  to  retailers. — These  are  believed   to  be  suscep 
tible  of  considerable  and  very  proper  augmentation  and  exten 
sion.      The  following  rates  are  estimated  to  produce  700,000 
dollars : 

For  a  license  to  retail  wines,  $20 

Do.  do.       spirits  generally,  20 

Do.  do.       domestic  spirits  only,  15 

Do.  do.       any  other  species  of  foreign  mer 

chandise,  10 

Tavern-keepers  licensed  under  the  authority  of  any  State, 
and  not  living  in  any  city,  town,  village,  or  within  five  miles 
thereof,  to  be  excepted.  Every  other  person  who  sells  wines, 
foreign  spirits,  or  foreign  merchandise,  otherwise  than  in  the 
vessel  or  package  of  importation,  or,  in  the  case  of  dry  goods, 
otherwise  than  by  the  piece,  and  every  person  who  sells  domestic 
spirits  in  less  quantity  than  thirty  gallons,  to  be  considered  as  a 
retailer. 

4.  Duties  on  sales  at  auction. — These  confined  to  the  sales  of 
articles  of  foreign  produce  or  manufacture,  and  at  the  same  rate 
as  heretofore,  may  produce  about  50,000  dollars. 

5.  Duties  upon  carriages  for  the  conveyance  of  persons. — Those 
duties,  adding  at  the  rate  of  fifty  per  cent,  on  the  duties  formerly 
raised,  are  estimated  to  produce  150,000  dollars. 

6.  Stamp   duties. — An   association  of  ideas  which   connects 
those  duties  with  the  attempt  of  Great  Britain  to  tax  America, 
and  which  might  with  equal  propriety  attach  odium  to  the  duty 
on  the  importation  of  tea,  has-  rendered  their  name  in  some  de 
gree  unpopular.      The  great  extension  of  post-roads  and  the 
facility  of  distribution  have,  however,  removed  the  most  sub 
stantial  objection  to  which  they  were  liable.     They  do  not  ap 
pear  to  be  more  inconvenient  than  any  other  internal  tax,  and 
the  expenses  of  collection  are  less  than  on  any  other,  being  only 
a  commission  on  the  sale  and  the  cost  of  paper  and  stamping. 
At  the  same  rate  as  heretofore,  with  the  exception  of  bank-notes, 
on  which  an  increase  appears  proper  (with  an  option  to  the  banks 
to  pay  -£$  part  of  their  dividends  in  lieu  thereof),  they  are  esti 
mated  to  produce  500,000  dollars. 


1812. 


LETTEKS,    ETC. 


511 


Recapitulation. 

Direct  tax,  gross  amount, 
Duties  on  spirits,  and  licenses  to  distil 
lers,  gross  amount, 
Refined  sugar,  gross  amount, 
Retailers'  licenses,     do. 
Sales  at  auction,        do. 
Duties  on  carriages,  do. 
Stamp  duties,  do. 

Total  gross  amount, 
Deduct  expenses  of  assessment  and  col 
lection  and  losses,  estimated  at   15 
per  centum, 

Net  amount  estimated  for  1814, 
But  are  not  estimated  to  yield,  in  1813, 
more  than 


$3,000,000 


$400,000 
200,000 
700,000 
50,000 
150,000 
500,000 


2,000,000 
$5,000,000 

750,000 
$4,250,000 

$3,600,000 


Most  of  the  internal  taxes  have  been  estimated  at  their  maxi 
mum;  but  it  is  hoped  that  any  defalcation  from  the  estimated 
amount  will  be  compensated  by  a  diminution  in  the  expenses  of 
collection,  which  have  also  been  computed  at  the  highest  rate. 

For  the  superintendence  of  those  taxes,  both  direct  and  indi 
rect,  it  appears  indispensable  that  the  office  of  commissioner  of 
the  revenue  should  be  re-established.  For  their  collection  the 
former  offices  of  supervisor  and  inspector  are  believed  to  have 
been  unnecessary  and  injurious  links  in  the  system,  and  that  the 
expense  will  be  diminished,  and  the  collection  and  accountability 
better  secured,  by  the  division  of  the  States  into  convenient  col 
lection  districts,  and  by  the  appointment  of  a  collector  to  each 
district,  who  will  pay  into  the  Treasury,  and  be  immediately 
accountable  to  that  Department,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  col 
lectors  of  customs.  This  arrangement,  the  greater  amount  to  be 
collected,  and  the  simplification  in  the  objects  and  mode  of  taxa 
tion  will,  it  is  hoped,  reduce  in  a  short  time  the  expenses  of  col 
lection  of  the  indirect  taxes  to  7J  instead  of  13  per  centum,  which 


512  "WETTINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1812. 

they  formerly  cost  when  brought  to  their  highest  degree  of  im 
provement.  In  estimating  the  charges  on  the  direct  tax  at  15 
per  cent.,  5  per  cent,  have  been  allowed  for  the  assessment,  5  per 
cent,  for  the  collection,  and  5  per  cent,  for  losses.  This  last  item 
is  principally  on  account  of  losses  on  unseated  lands,  and  on  some 
remote  districts  of  country,  and  is  not  susceptible  of  much  reduc 
tion.  That  for  assessment  may  be  lessened  in  those  States  where 
the  objects  of  taxation  do  not  require  an  annual  valuation,  or 
where  the  State  or  county  assessments  may  be  used.  The  ex 
pense  of  collection  proper  may  be  also  in  some  degree  lessened 
in  cities  and  populous  districts,  and  by  uniting  it  with  that  of 
the  internal  taxes.  It  is,  however,  necessary  that  the  compensa 
tion  of  the  collectors  be  sufficient  to  command  the  services  of 
men  properly  qualified,  and  in  every  respect  worthy  of  the  trust. 

In  performing  the  ungracious  task  of  pointing  out  new  objects 
of  taxation,  those  have  been  submitted  which  appeared  sufficiently 
productive  and  least  oppressive.  The  objections  to  which  each, 
including  the  increase  of  duties  on  importations,  is  liable  have 
not  been  stated;  not  because  I  was  insensible  of  them,  but  because 
no  substitute  of  any  importance  was  perceived  which  was  not 
still  more  objectionable.  Every  tax  being  in  some  degree  an 
evil,  is  therefore  liable  to  some  objection,  and  every  one  taken 
singly  may  for  that  reason  be  easily  combated.  But  if  the 
necessity  of  an  additional  revenue  be  admitted,  the  objections 
afford  no  argument  why  the  tax  proposed  should  be  rejected, 
unless  another  less  inconvenient  be  substituted.  The  necessity 
of  such  an  addition  to  the  revenue  has  in  the  course  of  this  letter 
been  strongly  urged,  because  it  was  strongly  felt ;  but  with  respect 
to  the  taxes  proposed,  the  selection  is  submitted  with  diffidence, 
and  it  will  be  highly  gratifying  that  some  more  eligible  may  be 
devised. 

The  last  inquiry  of  the  committee  relates  principally  to  the 
terms  on  which  loans  amounting  to  at  least  ten  millions  of  dollars 
per  annum  may  be  obtained,  and  to  the  plan  proper  to  be  adopted 
for  the  reimbursement  of  such  loans. 

The  terms  on  which  annual  loans  to  that  amount  may  be 
obtained  can  be  ascertained  only  by  experiment.  Government 
has  never  since  its  organization  obtained  considerable  loans  within 


1812.  LETTERS,    ETC.  513 

the  United  States  at  the  rate  of  six  per  cent,  per  year,  except  from 
the  Bank  of  the  United  States ;  and  these  on  a  capital  of  ten  mil 
lions  never  amounted  to  seven  millions  in  the  whole.  In  propor 
tion  to  the  amount  wanted  for  the  service  of  the  year,  and  to  the 
increase  of  stock  of  the  public  debt  at  market,  the  terms  must 
naturally  become  less  favorable.  It  must  also  be  recollected  that 
in  addition  to  the  sum  wanted  to  defray  the  extraordinary  ex 
penses  of  the  war,  an  annual  loan  equal  to  the  annual  reimburse 
ment  of  the  six  per  cent,  and  deferred  stocks  prescribed  by  law 
will  also  be  required.  This,  together  with  the  reimbursement 
of  the  residue  of  the  converted  stock,  amounting  to  565,000 
dollars,  will  for  this  year  amount,  as  has  been  stated  in  the 
annual  report,  to  2,135,000  dollars.  As  the  interest  on  the 
existing  debt  is  included  in  the  "current  expenses,"  the  loan 
necessary  for  the  reimbursement  of  the  six  per  cent,  and  deferred 
stocks  will  for  each  subsequent  year  amount  only  to  1,570,000 
dollars.  The  loans  for  those  sums  will  indeed  create  no  addition 
to  the  amount  of  the  debt,  but  will  nevertheless  increase  the  total 
sum  to  be  annually  borrowed.  It  must  also  be  observed  that  if 
the  price  of  stocks  should  sink  below  par,  the  commissioners  of 
the  sinking  fund  are  bound  by  the  existing  laws  to  apply  the 
residue  of  the  annual  appropriation  of  eight  millions  a  year  to 
the  purchase  of  stock,  and  that  residue  will  this  year  amount  to 
3,640,000  dollars,  which  in  that  case  must  also  be  borrowed.  It 
is  a  view  of  those  several  considerations  which  has  created  an 
apprehension  that  loans  to  such  large  amount  might  not  perhaps 
be  obtained  on  as  favorable  terms  as  under  other  circumstances, 
and  writh  the  powerful  assistance  of  a  national  bank,  had  been 
formerly  anticipated.  The  same  view  of  the  subject  has  most 
forcibly  impressed  a  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  an  additional 
revenue.  For  if  further  loans  be  also  resorted  to  for  defraying 
the  ordinary  expenses  and  the  interest,  they  must,  if  at  all  prac 
ticable,  be  obtained  on  the  most  ruinous  terms.  Excluding  that 
idea,  and  embracing  only  the  loans  which  are  absolutely  necessary, 
it  appears  to  me  more  prudent  not  to  limit  the  rate  of  interest  by 
law.  A  discretionary  power  in  that  respect  is,  so  far  as  relates 
to  the  Executive,  altogether  ineligible ;  but  it  is  preferable  to  .the 
risk  of  leaving  the  public  service  unprovided  for.  It  is  also  for 
VOL.  i.— 34 


514  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1812. 

the  same  reason  requisite  that  the  loans  may  be  made  irredeemable 
for  a  term  not  less  than  ten  years. 

In  a  former  communication  to  the  Committee  of  Ways  and 
Means,  it  was  suggested  that  "  Treasury  notes,"  bearing  interest, 
might  to  a  certain  extent  be  issued,  and  to  that  extent  diminish 
the  amount  to  be  directly  borrowed.  The  advantage  they  would 
have  would  result  from  their  becoming  a  part  of  the  circulating 
medium,  and  taking,  to  a  certain  degree,  the  place  of  bank-notes. 
It  is  evident,  however,  that  for  the  same  reason  the  issue  must 
be  moderate,  and  never  exceed  the  amount  which  may  circulate 
without  depreciation. 

The  loans  necessary  for  the  present  year  are,  1st,  a  sum  equal 
to  that  which  may  during  the  year  be  reimbursed  on  account  of 
the  principal  of  the  debt ;  2dly,  the  amount  of  expenses  which 
have  been  or  may  be  authorized  by  Congress  and  are  not  included 
in  the  annual  estimates. 

The  first  sum  will  certainly  amount  to  2,135,000  dollars,  and 
may  be  greater  if  the  stock  should  sink  below  par. 

The  second  sum  cannot  yet  be  stated,  since  the  extent  of  the 
expenses  which  may  be  authorized  is  not  yet  ascertained,  and  as 
the  estimates  for  the  additional  army  already  authorized  have  not 
yet  been  received  by  the  Treasury  Department. 

The  deficit  of  1,200,000  dollars  (on  the  peace  establishment) 
is  not  included  as  absolutely  necessary,  although  its  payment 
will,  as  stated  in  the  annual  report,  leave  in  the  Treasury  a 
smaller  balance  than  under  existing  circumstances  is  eligible. 

It  may  be  proper  to  repeat  that  so  long  as  the  public  credit  is 
preserved  and  a  sufficient  revenue  is  provided,  no  doubts  are 
entertained  of  the  possibility  of  procuring,  on  loan,  the  sums 
wanted  to  defray  the  extraordinary  expenses  of  a  war;  and  that 
the  apprehensions  expressed  relate  solely  to  the  terms  of  the 
loans,  to  the  rate  of  interest  at  which  they  can  be  obtained. 

The  reimbursement  of  the  new  debt  which  may  be  created 
must  ultimately  depend  on  the  respective  revenue  and  expendi 
ture  of  the  United  States,  after  the  restoration  of  peace.  No 
artificial  provisions,  no  appropriations  or  investments  of  particu 
lar  funds  in  certain  persons,  no  nominal  sinking  fund,  however 
constructed,  will  ever  reduce  a  public  debt  unless  the  net  annual 


1812.  LETTERS,    ETC.  515 

revenue  shall  exceed  the  aggregate  of  the  annual  expenses,  in 
cluding  the  interest  on  the  debt.  Those  who  create  the  debt  can 
only  estimate  what  the  peace  revenue  and  expenditure  will  be, 
and  presume  that  the  supposed  surplus  will  be  faithfully  and 
perseveringly  applied  to  the  payment  of  the  principal. 

The  current  or  peace  expenses  have  been  estimated  at  nine 
millions  of  dollars.  Supposing  the  debt  contracted  during  the 
war  not  to  exceed  fifty  millions,  and  its  annual  interest  to  amount 
to  three  millions,  the  aggregate  of  the  peace  expenditure  would 
be  no  more  than  twelve  millions.  And  as  the  peace  revenue  of 
the  United  States  may,  at  the  existing  rate  of  duties,  be  fairly 
estimated  at  fifteen  millions,  there  would  remain  from  the  first 
outset  a  surplus  of  three  millions  of  dollars  applicable  to  the  re 
demption  of  the  debt.  So  far,  therefore,  as  can  now  be  foreseen, 
there  is  the  strongest  reason  to  believe  that  the  debt  thus  con 
tracted  will  be  discharged  with  facility  and  as  speedily  as  the  terms 
of  the  loans  will  permit.  Nor  does  any  other  plan  in  that  respect 
appear  necessary  than  to  extend  the  application  of  the  annual 
appropriation  of  eight  millions,  and  which  is  amply  sufficient 
for  that  purpose,  to  the  payment  of  interest  and  reimbursement 
of  the  principal  of  the  new  debt.  No  doubt  can  be  entertained 
of  that  mode  being  sufficiently  efficacious,  since  by  that  plan 
alone  forty-six  millions  of  the  public  debt  have  been  reimbursed 
during  the  last  eleven  years.  If  the  national  revenue  exceeds 
the  national  expense,  a  simple  appropriation  for  the  payment  of 
the  principal  of  the  debt  and  co-extensive  with  the  object  is  suf 
ficient,  and  will  infallibly  extinguish  the  debt.  If  the  expense 
exceeds  the  revenue,  the  appropriation  of  any  specific  sum  and 
the  investment  of  the  interest  extinguished,  or  of  any  other  fund, 
will  prove  altogether  nugatory;  and  the  national  debt  will,  not 
withstanding  that  apparatus,  be  annually  increased  by  an  amount 
equal  to  the  deficit  in  the  revenue. 

The  annual  interest  on  the  existing  debt  amounts  to  $2,220,000 
and  estimating  the  interest  on  the  new  debt  at  3,000,000 

the  sum  which,  on  the  annual  appropriation  of 

eight  millions,  would  at  the  restoration  of  peace 

be  applicable  to  the  payment  of  principal  is  2,780,000 

$8,000,000 


516  WEITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1812. 

— a  sum  somewhat  less  than  the  presumed  surplus  of  three 
millions,  as  above  stated,  and  which  will  be  nearly  sufficient  to 
reimburse  before  the  year  1823  the  whole  existing  debt  of  the 
United  States,  with  the  exception  of  the  three  per  cent,  stock. 
.  The  loans  contracted  during  the  war  being  made  irredeemable 
for  at  least  ten  years,  the  first  reimbursement  would  fall  on  that 
year ;  and  the  whole  of  the  appropriation  of  eight  millions,  after 
deducting  485,000  dollars  for  the  interest  of  the  three  per  cent, 
stock,  would  thenceforth  be  applicable  to  the  payment  of  the 
interest  and  principal  of  the  new  debt.  The  precise  period  of 
final  extinguishment  and  the  precise  amount  of  annual  payments 
will  depend  on  the  terms  of  the  loans,  and  on  the  number  of 
years  for  which  it  may  be  necessary  to  make  each  loan  irredeem 
able.  But  this  sketch  is  sufficient  to  show,  1st.  That  no  incon 
venience  will  arise  in  making  the  loans  irredeemable  for  ten 
years,  since  there  is  not  much  probability  that  they  could  be 
sooner  discharged.  2dly.  That  the  appropriation  of  eight  mil 
lions  will  be  sufficient  for  their  final  reimbursement.  3dly.  That 
that  reimbursement  and  that  of  the  whole  debt  of  the  United 
States  (the  three  per  cent,  stock  excepted)  will  probably  be  effected 
within  fifteen  years  after  the  restoration  of  peace.  It  must  always 
be  remembered  that  those  estimates  are  predicated  on  the  suppo 
sition  that  an  additional  revenue  to  the  amount  already  stated 
will  be  provided,  and  that  the  increase  of  debt  during  the  war 
will  not  exceed  fifty  millions. 

In  answering  the  inquiries^  of  the  committee  on  subjects  so 
intimately  connected  with  the  most  important  questions  of  na 
tional  concern,  it  became  an  imperious  duty  to  represent  every 
circumstance  precisely  as  it  was  or  appeared  to  be,  and  without 
exaggerating  or  disguising  any  of  the  difficulties  which  must 
be  encountered.  To  understand  these  to  their  full  extent  will 
afford  the  best  means  of  overcoming  them;  and  there  is  none 
which  appears  insurmountable  or  even  discouraging.  What 
appears  to  be  of  vital  importance  is,  that  the  crisis  should  at 
once  be  met  by  the  adoption  of  efficient  measures  which  will 
with  certainty  provide  means  commensurate  with  the  expense, 
and  by  preserving  unimpaired,  instead  of  abusing,  that  public 
credit  on  which  the  public  resources  so  eminently  depend,  will 


1812.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  517 

enable  the  United  States  to  persevere  in  the  contest  until  an 
honorable  peace  shall  have  been  obtained. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  10th  March,  1812. 

DEAR  SIR, — Mr.  Correa,  an  interesting  and  learned  Portu 
guese,  who  has  lately  arrived  in  the  Constitution,  and  is  recom 
mended  to  us  by  Barlow,  Humboldt,  &c.,  has  requested  me  to 
transmit  to  you  the  enclosed  letter  and  work.  He  intends  to 
pay  you  his  respects  in  person  this  summer. 

You  have  seen  from  your  retreat  that  our  hopes  and  endeavors 
to  preserve  peace  during  the  present  European  contest  have  at 
last  been  frustrated.  I  am  satisfied  that  domestic  faction  has 
prevented  that  happy  result.  But  I  hope  nevertheless  that  our 
internal  enemies  and  the  ambitious  intriguers  who  still  attempt 
to  disunite  will  ultimately  be  equally  disappointed.  I  rely  with 
great  confidence  on  the  good  sense  of  the  great  mass  of  the 
people  to  support  their  own  government  in  an  unavoidable  war, 
and  to  check  the  disordinate  ambition  of  individuals.  The  dis 
coveries  made  by  Henry  will  have  a  salutary  effect  in  annihi 
lating  the  spirit  of  the  Essex  junto,  and  even  on  the  new  focus 
of  opposition  at  Albany.  Pennsylvania  never  was  more  firm 
or  united.  The  South  and  the  West  cannot  be  shaken.  With 
respect  to  the  war,  it  is  my  wish,  and  it  will  be  my  endeavor,  so 
far  as  I  may  have  any  agency,  that  the  evils  inseparable  from  it 
should,  as  far  as  practicable,  be  limited  to  its  duration,  and  that 
at  its  end  the  United  States  may  be  burdened  with  the  smallest 
possible  quantity  of  debt,  perpetual  taxation,  military  establish 
ments,  and  other  corrupting  or  anti-republican  habits  or  institu 
tions. 

Accept  the  assurances  of  my  sincere  and  unalterable  attachment 
and  respect. 


518  WAITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1812. 


GALLATIN   TO   JOSEPH    H.   NICHOLSON. 

WASHINGTON,  21st  May,  1812. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  am  rejoiced  to  hear  that  you  have  succeeded  in 
your  cause ;  and  I  am  not  sorry  to  see  that  you  have  once  more 
taken  a  share  in  politics.  I  wish  you  would  write  to  Langdon, 
earnestly  requesting  him  not  to  decline  the  nomination  to  the 
Vice-Presidency.  Two  or  three  men  had  committed  themselves 
with  Seaver,  he  with  Gerry,  and  from  complaisance  to  him  sev 
eral  votes  were  given  to  Gerry  by  persons  within  my  knowledge 
in  favor  of  Langdon.  I  fear  that  the  Massachusetts  people  will 
attempt  to  make  him  decline,  under  pretence  that  it  will  unite ; 
and  he  is,  I  am  told,  anxious  not  to  enter  again  in  public  life. 
But  the  fact  that  .it  would  unite  is  not  true.  We  want  as  much 
popularity  as  is  attainable ;  and  Mr.  Langdon's  name  is  by  far 
the  most  popular  we  can  get.  How  beloved  his  person  by  all 
who  know  him  I  need  not  tell  you.  Gerry  is,  in  both  respects, 
the  reverse;  and  I  much  fear  that,  if  elected,  he  would  give 
us  as  much  trouble  as  our  late  Vice-President.  If  you  think 
proper  to  write,  do  it  immediately,  as  he  will  be  called  for  an 
answer  by  the  committee  of  correspondence. 

It  would  be  most  regular  that  the  scrip  should  issue  in  the 
names  of  the  subscribers ;  but  if  the  bank  has  no  objection,  I  do 
not  perceive  any  on  the  part  of  the  Treasury  that  it  should  come 
out  in  your  name  as  attorney-in-fact  for  the  subscribers. 

James  writes  to  me  that  Mr.  Bouchard  is  dangerously  sick.  If 
not  compelled  by  other  reasons,  you  had  better  wait  a  few  days, 
which  will  decide  his  fate,  before  you  begin  your  journey. 

Truly  yours. 


GALLATIN   TO   LANGDON   CHEVES,  CHAIRMAN  OP  WAYS  AND  MEANS. 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  10th  June,  1812. 

SIR, — I  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  letter  of  yesterday, 
asking  whether,  in  my  opinion,  the  Non-Importation  Act  may 
not  be  so  modified,  or  partially  suspended,  as  to  afford  a  revenue 


1812.  LETTERS,    ETC.  519 

equivalent  to  the  estimated  amount  of  the  internal  taxes,  addi 
tional  tonnage  duty,  and  diminution  of  drawbacks ;  and,  in  such 
event,  whether  the  last-mentioned  objects  of  revenue  may  not, 
for  the  present,  be  dispensed  with  ? 

All  the  estimates  of  revenue  which  have  been  transmitted 
during  this  session,  having  necessarily  been  made  in  conformity 
with  the  existing  laws,  were  predicated  on  the  supposed  absolute 
prohibition  of  British  produce  and  manufactures.  These,  in 
ordinary  times,  amounted  to  more  than  one-half  of  the  foreign 
merchandise  consumed  in  the  United  States.  The  actual  exclu 
sion  of  the  greater  part  of  the  articles  of  our  own  growth  from 
France,  Holland,  and  Germany,  the  consequent  nullity  of  our 
commerce  with  those  countries,  and  the  conquest  by  Great  Britain 
of  their  colonies,  still  more  lessens  the  proportion  of  foreign  arti 
cles  which  may  be  imported  from  other  countries  than  the  British 
dominions. 

It  is  therefore  evident  that  the  amount  of  duties  on  importa 
tions  will  be  more  than  doubled  in  the  event  of  a  suspension  of 
the  Non-Importation,  and  that  they  will,  whilst  that  suspension 
continues,  afford  a  revenue  at  least  equivalent  to  the  estimated 
amount  of  the  proposed  direct  tax,  internal  duties,  additional 
tonnage,  and  diminution  of  drawbacks.  All  these  may  be  dis 
pensed  with,  so  long  as  the  suspension  continues,  provided  that 
the  contemplated  increase  of  one  hundred  per  cent,  on  the  duties 
on  importations  shall  take  place. 

It  is  not  believed  that  the  result  would  be  materially  affected 
by  a  modification  or  partial  instead  of  an  absolute  suspension  of 
the  Non-Importation.  For  the  amount  of  importations  would  be 
principally  regulated  by  the  amount  of  American  funds  already 
in  England,  and  by  the  subsequent  consumption  of  American 
produce  in  Great  Britain,  Spain,  and  Portugal,  and  the  British 
West  Indies  respectively.  If  a  discrimination  be  thought  eligi 
ble,  it  would  seem  that  the  articles  entitled  to  preference  are 
colonial  produce,  particularly  rum,  coarse  woollens,  middle-price 
cotton  goods,  Irish  linens,  earthen  and  glass  ware,  hardware,  and 
manufactures  of  steel,  tin,  brass,  and  copper.  Fine  cloths,  mus 
lins,  plain  cotton  goods,  manufactures  of  silk,  hemp,  flax  (with 
the  above  exception),  and  leather,  paper,  hats,  shoes,  and  milli- 


520  WHITINGS     OP     GAL  LATIN.  1812. 

nery  may  either  be  altogether  supplied  by  domestic  manufactures 
or  dispensed  with. 

The  annual  importations  of  British,  colonial,  and  domestic 
produce  and  manufactures  could  not  be  estimated  at  less  than 
thirty-five  millions  of  dollars.  Supposing  (on  the  same  grounds 
on  which  the  other  estimates  of  duties  on  importation  in  time 
of  war  were  made)  that  the  war  and  other  restrictions  should 
reduce  the  amount  to  one-half,  the  proposed  double  duties 
collected  on  the  residue  \vould  produce  a  net  revenue  of  at  least 
five  millions  of  dollars,  and  greater,  therefore,  than  all  the  pro 
posed  internal  taxes  and  duties  and  additional  tonnage  duty. 

Permit  me,  however,  to  observe,  with  respect  to  this  last  duty, 
that,  so  far  as  relates  to  foreign  vessels,  the  proposed  addition 
appears  necessary,  and  is  hardly  sufficient  to  compensate  the 
great  advantages  which  war  will  give  them  over  American  vessels 
in  the  American  commerce. 

It  is  proper  to  add  that  all  the  bills  for  laying  and  collecting 
the  direct  tax  and  internal  duties  have  been  prepared  in  con 
formity  with  the  former  request  of  the  committee,  so  that  the 
whole  subject  may  be  taken  up  at  this  or  any  other  time  without 
any  delay  on  the  part  of  the  Treasury.  The  only  detail  on  which 
the  information  is  not  as  complete  as  might  be  desired  is  that 
of  the  quotas  of  the  direct  tax  intended  to  be  laid  on  the  several 
counties  "in  each  State.  It  is  also  believed  that  the  system  has 
been  prepared  in  such  manner  that  it  may  be  organized  and  all 
the  taxes  be  in  full  operation  in  the  month  of  April  next,  pro 
vided  the  laws  are  enacted  before  the  commencement  of  the  year 
1813.  - 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant. 


MONROE    TO    GALLATIN. 

June  1,  1812. 


I  am  convinced  that  it  is  very  important  to  attempt  at  present 
the  maritime  war  only.     I  fear,  however,  that  difficulty  will  be 


1812.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  521 

experienced  in  the  committee,  which  may  extend  itself  to  the 
gentlemen,  or  some  of  them  at  least,  at  Mrs.  Dawson's.  To 
prevent  this  it  is  important  that  an  early  communication  should 
take  place  with  Mr.  Crawford.  Cannot  you  see  him  this  morn 
ing,  before  you  come  to  the  President's,  to  confer  with  and  explain 
to  him  the  policy  of  the  plan  preferred  ?  I  arn  so  engaged  in 
preparing  papers  that  I  cannot,  or  would  not  ask  it  of  you. 

Sincerely  yours. 


GALLATIN   TO   MADISON. 

[June,  1812.] 

DEAR  SIR, — I  believe  the  weekly  arrivals  from  foreign  ports 
will  for  the  coming  four  weeks  average  from  one  to  one  and  a 
half  million  dollars  a  week.  To  protect  these  and  our  coasting 
vessels,  whilst  the  British  have  still  an  inferior  force  on  our 
coasts,  appears  to  me  of  primary  importance.  I  think  that 
orders  to  that  effect,  ordering  them  to  cruise  accordingly,  ought 
to  have  been  sent  yesterday,  and  that,  at  all  events,  not  one  day 
longer  ought  to  be  lost. 

Respectfully. 

I  will  wait  on  you  to-morrow  at  one  o'clock. 


GALLATIN   TO   LANGDON  CHEVES. 

June 

SIR, — The  Non-Importation  Acts  forbid  two  things,  viz. :  1st, 
the  importation  of  British  merchandise ;  2d,  the  importation  of 
any  merchandise  whatever  from  the  dominions  of  Great  Britain. 
The  bill  reported  to  the  House  suspends  the  operation  of  the 
first  prohibition,  but  not  of  the  second.  This  is  intended,  it  is 
presumed,  to  prevent  direct  importations  from  Great  Britain  in 
neutral  vessels.  That  regulation  will,  it  is  believed,  have  no 
other  effect  but  to  enhance  the  freight,  and  thereby  make  us  pay 
dearer  for  the  merchandise.  But,  supposing  that  exception  to  be 


522  WHITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1812. 

generally  proper,  its  application  to  the  adjacent  British  provinces 
will  be  injurious.  It  is  our  interest  now  to  draw  from  Canada 
all  the  furs  and  merchandise  .belonging  to  our  citizens.  Their 
exportation  may  be  forbidden  by  the  British ;  but,  if  permitted 
by  them,  their  importation  into  the  United  States  will  continue 
to  be  forbidden.  If  this  be  not  intended,  the  bill  should  be 
amended  by  inserting  in  the  first  section,  after  the  words  "  Great 
Britain,"  the  words  "  or  of  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise  from 
the  British  provinces  adjacent  to  the  United  States,"  or  words  to 
that  effect.  Or  a  third  section,  specially  providing  for  the  case, 
may  be  introduced.  It  seems  to  me  that,  even  if  the  bill  were 
rejected,  that  provision  is  due  to  our  citizens,  who  should  be  per 
mitted,  if  they  can,  to  snatch  their  property  from  the  enemy's 
hands.  That  property,  in  England,  runs  no  great  risk ;  but,  in 
a  colonial  government,  may  be  seized  by  the  mere  act  of  the 
governor.  Smuggling,  also,  is  much  more  dangerous  from  that 
quarter  than  by  sea. 

The  title  of  the  bill  does  not  agree  with  the  enacting  clause. 
Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO   MADISON. 

PHILADELPHIA,  21st  July,  1812. 

DEAR  SIK, — It  is  said  that  the  consulship  of  Lisbon  is  vacant. 
If  so,  permit  me  to  recommend  with  more  than  common  earnest 
ness  Pemberton  Hutchinson,  the  son  of  my  former  friend,  Dr. 
Hutchinson.  The  name  is  dear  to  every  Republican  in  this 
State,  both  in  city  and  country.  And  I  am  assured  that  the 
son,  by  his  talents  and  standing,  deserves  the  appointment.  In 
one  respect  he  has  an  advantage, — that  of  being  already  on  the 
spot,  connected  with  one  of  the  most  respectable  houses  in  this 
city. 

I  had  not  intended  to  write  until  I  could  give  you  some  ac 
count  of  my  success,  but,  understanding  that  one  of  the  Mifflins 
goes  by  to-day's  stage  to  Washington  to  solicit  the  office,  would 


1812.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  523 

not  let  the  mail  go  without  writing  in  favor  of  Hutchinson,  for 
whose  appointment  I  feel  truly  anxious. 

We  have  arrived  here  safe,  and  intend  to  proceed  to  New 
York  as  soon  as  I  have  done  what  can  be  effected  here  with 
respect  to  money. 

Mrs.  G.  presents  her  best  respects  to  Mrs.  Madison. 

Do  you  still  want  volunteers?  I  could  easily  have  set  the 
thing  going  here. 

Kespectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


MADISON   TO   GALLATIN. 

"WASHINGTON,  August  8,  1812. 

DEAR,  SIR, — The  communications  from  the  British  govern 
ment,  lately  received  through  Baker,  are  of  a  curious  character. 
They  promise  that  the  orders  in  council  would  cease  on  the  1st 
August,  with  a  right  reserved  to  renew  them  in  May  next,  in 
case  the  conduct  of  France  and  of  the  United  States  should  re 
quire  it,  and  particularly  in  case  the  Non-Importation  Act  should 
not  be  repealed  within  fourteen  days  after  a  notification  of  the 
actual  repeal  should  be  made  to  this  government.  The  com 
munication  was  so  informal  that  it  was  not  only  not  in  writing, 
but  not  permitted  by  Baker  to  be  taken  down  in  his  presence 
by  Mr.  Graham.  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  vessel  was  de 
spatched  in  consequence  of  the  notice  from  Foster  by  the  May 
packet  (referred  to  in  his  despatches  lately  found  on  board  the 
Tulip),  that  war  would  be  declared,  and  in  the  hope  that  the 
expectation  of  a  repeal  of  the  orders  thus  authorized  would 
arrest  the  declaration.  In  the  mean  time  they  would  have  an 
opportunity  of  learning  the  issue  in  Congress,  and  might  govern 
themselves  by  it.  Baker  professes,  however,  to  expect  another 
arrival  immediately,  making  a  further  and  more  particular  com 
munication  on  the  subject,  and  that  it  will  contain  the  act  of  re 
peal.  He  states  also  that  the  British  authorities  at  Halifax,  with 
the  sanction  of  Foster,  are  willing  to  fix  a  day  in  concert  with 
this  government  after  which  all  captures  at  sea  are  to  be  hung 


524  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1812. 

up  in  the  courts  for  the  final  decision  of  the  two  governments ; 
this  arrangement  to  be  accompanied  by  a  suspension  of  military 
operations  in  Canada,  which  Foster  has  advised  the  govern 
ment  there  to  propose  to  the  adverse  commander.  It  may  be 
inferred  from  the  whole  that  the  British  Cabinet  is  in  some 
agitation,  and  that  it  is  believed  at  Halifax  that  the  road  to 
peace  cannot  be  made  too  short,  whilst  they  are  careful  to  effect 
it  by  a  bargain  as  safe  and  advantageous  as  possible.  Perhaps 
it  may  be  a  ruse  only  to  exhibit  that  side  as  anxious  to  stop 
hostilities,  and  throw  on  ours  the  foreseen  rejection  of  the  pro 
posal. 

The  latest  information  from  Hull  is  in  the  last  National  Intel 
ligencer.  He  finds  it  necessary  to  prepare  heavy  cannon  (24's) 
and  mortars  in  order  to  take  Maiden  without  a  bloody  storm. 
He  allowed  himself  two  weeks  to  make  the  preparation.  A 
reinforcement  is  ordered  to  him  from  the  Ohio.  He  seems  to 
have  severed  the  Indians  from  their  allies  for  the  present.  But 
without  a  conspicuous  success  in  his  military  progress  there  is 
reason  to  apprehend  an  extensive  combination  against  the  fron 
tiers  of  Ohio  and  all  the  neighboring  Territories.  Should  he  be 
able  to  descend  upon  Niagara  and  an  adequate  co-operation  be 
there  afforded,  our  prospect  as  to  Upper  Canada  may  be  good 
enough.  But  what  is  to  be  done  with  respect  to  the  expedition 
against  Montreal  ?  The  enlistments  for  the  regular  army  fall 
short  of  the  most  moderate  calculation.  The  Volunteer  Act  is 
extremely  unproductive.  And  even  the  militia  detachments  are 
either  obstructed  by  the  disaffected  governors  or  chilled  by  the 
Federal  spirit  diffused  throughout  the  region  most  convenient  to 
the  theatre.  I  see  nothing  better  than  to  draw  on  this  resource 
as  far  as  the  detachments  consist  of  volunteers,  who,  it  may  be 
presumed,  will  cross  the  line  without  raising  constitutional  or 
legal  questions.  An  experiment  must,  if  possible,  be  made  for 
cutting  off  all  British  communications  with  the  Indians.  If  this 
cannot  be  done  by  occupying  Montreal,  is  it  impossible  to  do  it 
by  some  other  operation  that  will  put  the  communication  through 
the  Utiwas  under  our  control?  The  Secretary  of  State  is  on  a 
visit  to  his  farm.  He  will  be  back  in  the  course  of  this  week; 
when  I  must  follow  his  example.  I  am  much  worn  down,  and 


1812.  LETTERS,     ETC.  525 

feel  the  approach  of  my  bilious  visitor  on  tide-water.     I  have 
also  some  very  pressing  calls  for  my  presence  on  my  farm. 

Accept  my  affectionate  respects. 

It  is  the  wish  of  Baker  that  his  communications  may  be  re 
garded  as  confidential,  till  more  definite  and  formal  ones  shall 
arrive. 

If  you  have  an  opportunity,  obtain  from  J.  Lewis  information 
leading  to  a  use  of  the  ports  of  Hayti  for  our  cruisers.  Perhaps 
he  would  be  a  good  missionary  for  that  purpose. 


MADISON   TO  GALLATIN. 

WASHINGTON,  August  15,  1812. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  just  received  your  favor  of  the  13th.  I 
had  proposed  to  set  out  for  Virginia  on  Friday,  and  am  very 
glad  to  learn  that  you  will  be  with  us  before  that  takes  place. 
I  expect  Mr.  Monroe  every  moment;  and  Mr.  Pinkney  being 
within  call,  I  shall  be  able  to  decide  with  the  best  advantage  the 
several  important  questions  on  hand.  Previous  to  the  account 
of  the  loss  of  Michilimackihac,  orders  had  gone  for  a  reinforce 
ment  to  Hull  of  1500  men  from  Kentucky  and  Ohio.  It  is  a 
little  strange  that  no  official  communication  of  the  revoking 
order  has  yet  arrived  from  Great  Britain,  the  order  being  dated 
on  the  23d  of  June,  and  so  many  motives  urging  an  immediate 
transmission  of  it.  The  solicitude  on  this  point  appeared  from 
the  hasty  communication  through  Halifax  before  the  measure 
was  reduced  to  its  due  form.  From  debates  in  Parliament  of  the 
18th  and  19th  of  June,  there  must  have  been  a  sudden  transition 
from  the  conditional  suspension  to  the  shape  finally  given  to  the 
Act.  Maury  writes  from  Liverpool  (June  26)  that  shipments 
were  taking  place,  without  hesitation,  of  goods  to  an  unexampled 
amount  for  the  United  States.  It  will  be  an  unexampled  instance 
of  mercantile  incaution  if  passports  be  not  obtained,  to  be  good 
in  the  event  of  war.  The  state  of  things  which  produced  the 


526  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1812. 

revocation  of  the  orders  would  insure  the  granting  them  if  in 
sisted  on.  Enclosed  is  the  new  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer's 
budget,  with  an  interesting  view  on  the  subject  by  Huskisson. 

Affectionate  respects. 


MADISON   TO    GALLATIN. 

[August,  1812.] 

The  command  of  the  Lakes  is  obviously  of  the  greatest  im 
portance,  and  has  always  so  appeared.  I  am  glad  to  find  it  not 
too  late  to  have  that  of  Ontario.  There  must  have  been  some 
mistake  as  to  the  eifort  to  obtain  it.  It  does  not  appear  that  any 
application,  such  as  is  intimated,  has  been  made  to  the  Navy 
Department.  Mr.  Hamilton  has  much  confidence  in  Lieutenant 
Wolsey,  and  says  that  he  shall  be  furnished  with  what  he  wants 
under  orders  which  will  be  issued.  Affectionate  respects. 

We  set  off  to-morrow  morning  early;  the  probability  of  high 
waters  stopped  us  to-day. 


GALLATIN,  TO  MADISON. 

Sunday  Evening,  October  11,  1812. 

BEAB  SIR, — The  exchange  of  places  which  you  suggested 
would,  in  my  opinion,  have  a  most  salutary  effect  on  the  conduct 
of  the  war ;  but,  on  mature  reflection,  I  apprehend  that  it  would 
not  satisfy  public  opinion,  and  would  be  more  liable  to  criticism 
than  almost  any  other  course  that  would  be  adopted. 

Respectfully  yours. 


1812.  LETTERS,    ETC.  527 


GALLATIN   TO   MADISON. 
MEMORANDA. 

Endorsed  1813  [1812],  autumn,  previous  to  meeting  of  Con 
gress. 

Mr.  Armstrong's  letter. 

1.  Preference  to  be  given  to  contracts  for  supplying  the  army 
with  provisions. — This  is  so  indubitable  that  how  any  hesitation 
on  the  subject  could  take  place  is  not  easily  understood.     That 
branch  of  military  expenditure  is  the  only  one  (pay  excepted) 
which  is  well  administered  and  under  a  good  accountability.     If 
it  was  practicable  to  extend  the  same  system  (of  contracts)  to 
other  branches,  the  advantage  would  be  immediately  felt.     But 
where  the  practice  exists  and  has  answered,  it  should  not  entirely 
be  changed.     The  contracts  are  not  yet  made  for  any  important 
quarters,  and  ought  without  hesitation  to  be  promptly  entered 
into. 

2.  Recruiting  service. — Its  immediate  organization  is  abso 
lutely  necessary,  and  there  is  no  time  to  be  lost.    We  will  other 
wise  be  without  the  requisite  number  of  men  in  April  next. 
To  organize  and  to  act  without  delay  is  indispensable.    The  in 
crease  of  pay  may  be  relied  on.     An  increase  of  officers  for  that 
service  and  their  distribution  are  the  points  to  be  attended  to 
and  decided.     The  increase,  either  by  increasing  the  number  of 
regiments  (diminishing  the  number  of  men  in  proportion  in 
each  regiment)  or  the  addition  of  a  recruiting  company  or  of 
some  supernumerary  officers  to  each  regiment,  might,  which 
ever  principle  be  adopted,  be  arranged  in  all  its  details  in  half 
a  day.     The  selection  of  persons  to  fill  the  new  appointments 
is  more  difficult,  and  on  that  account  to  be  attended  to  at  once. 
If  this  subject  be  not  immediately  attended  to,  it  will  be  Feb 
ruary  before  the   recruiting  parties  are  properly  and  actively 
employed. 

3.  Local  force. — Unless  the  measure  be  general,  it  may  be  ob 
jectionable  to  raise  it  for  New  York  alone.     The  only  objection 
which  I  can  perceive  to  the  general  plan  is  that  it  may  at  this 
moment  impede  the  recruiting  service.     Perhaps  to  have  a  law 


528 


WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN. 


1812. 


only  at  the  end  of  the  session,  and  not  to  act  on  it  till  the  other 
recruiting  service  is  nearly  over,  would  be  most  eligible. 

Next  year,  revenue  and  expenses. 
The  expenses  are : 

1.  For  civil  list,  miscellaneous,  diplomatic,  $1,500,000 

2.  For  public  debt,  including  all  necessary  de-^ 

mands,  of  which  3  millions  for  Treasury  V      8,000,000 
notes,  J 

3.  Army  alone,  as  per  present  estimate,  and  Indian 

Department,  13,396,000 

4.  Navy,  as  it  now  stands,  4,926,000 

$27,822,000 

Add  deficiency  in  militia  appropriation  for  this  year,         1 ,000,000 

$28,822,000 
The  resources  are : 

1.  Revenue  estimated  for  the  whole,  $12,000,000 

2.  Treasury  notes  to  replace   those  "1 

which  will  be  reimbursed,          / 

3.  Loan, 


$3,000,000 
14,000,000 


But  we  must  add  to  war  estimate : 

1.  Increase  of  pay  and  officers, 

2.  Volunteers  and  militia,  at  least 

And  to  the  naval  estimate,  building 
4  74's  and  6  frigates, 

which,  added  to  the  above 
would  make  1813  loan 


17,000,000 
$29,000,000 


$1,500,000 
2,500,000 


$4,000,000 

3,000,000 

$7,000,000 
14,000,000 

$21,000,000 


I  think  a  loan  to  that  amount  to  be  altogether  unattainable. 
From  banks  we  can  expect  little  or  nothing,  as  they  have  al 
ready  lent  nearly  to  the  full  extent  of  their  faculties.  All  that 
I  could  obtain  this  year  from  individual  subscriptions  does  not 
exceed  3,200,000  dollars.  There  are  but  two  practicable  ways 


J812.  LETTERS,    ETC.  529 

of  diminishing  the  expenditure :  1,  by  confining  it  to  necessary 
objects ;  2,  by  introducing  perfect  system  and  suppressing  abuses 
in  the  necessary  branches. 

1.  In  the  War  Department,  to  reduce  the  calls  for  militia, 
and  above  all  to  keep  the  control  over  those  calls  and  other  con 
tingent  expenses;  in  the  navy,  to  diminish  greatly  the  .number 
of  gunboats,  and  to  strike  off  all  supernumerary  midshipmen, 
pursers,  sailing-masters,  and  other  unnecessary  officers. 

2.  System  requires  skill  in  forming  and  decision  in  executing. 
Both  the  preparing  and  executing  such  plans  must  rest  almost 
exclusively  with   the  heads  of  the   Departments.     I  have  no 
doubt  that  knowledge  and  talents  would  save  several  millions, 
and  the  necessary  business  be  better  done. 


GALLATIN   TO   MADISON. 

November  1,  1812. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  send  the  two  paragraphs.  I  believe  the  whole 
to  be  sufficiently  distinct,  with  the  exception,  perhaps,  of  the  last 
sentence  of  the  first  paragraph.  If  the  forfeitures  are  not  re 
mitted  at  all,  there  will  be  considerable  injustice,  great  discontent, 
and  8  to  10  millions  of  dollars  put  in  the  pocket  of  the  collectors. 
If  they  are  altogether  remitted,  the  importers  will  make  unreason 
able  profits,  and  there  will  be  equal  and  as  well-founded  dissatis 
faction.  To  attempt  to  discriminate  between  cases  will  be  an 
invidious  and  endless  task.  I  think  that  the  best  and  most 
equitable  mode  will  be  to  authorize  a  remission  of  all  the  for 
feitures  of  American  property,  on  condition  that  the  importers 
will  lend  to  government  a  sum  equal  to  the  prime  cost.  With 
respect  to  British  property,  a  sequestration  seems  the  most  eligible 
mode. 

The  object  of  the  sentence  alluded  to  is  to  indicate  this  course 
or  any  other  modification  answering  the  same  purpose,  which 
may  appear  more  eligible  or  prove  more  palatable. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 
VOL.  i. — 35 


530  WRITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1812. 


GALLATIN  TO   MADISON. 

December  12,  1812. 

DEAR  SIR, — In  support  of  the  suggestions  heretofore  made 
against  permitting  General  Armstrong  to  raise  a  volunteer  force 
on  different  principles  from  those  recognized  by  law  and  adopted 
elsewhere,  I  enclose  three  advertisements  from  the  late  New  York 
papers. 

Whilst  such  improper  encouragement  is  given  for  a  local  force 
it  will  be  impossible  to  recruit  for  the  army  or  for  general  pur 
poses;  and  the  general  object  of  providing  an  efficient  offensive 
force  will  be  sacrificed  to  a  local  object.  This  mode  also  destroys 
the  general  plan  of  a  local  force,  which  is  founded  on  the  practi 
cability  of  raising  men  to  be  paid  only  when  employed,  or  in 
proportion  to  their  time  of  service.  But  here  full  pay,  &c.,  are 
promised  for  local  services  not  to  exceed  five  or  eight  days  in  each 
month.  This  does  indubitably  secure,  at  an  enormous  expense, 
for  General  A.  all  the  force  he  wishes;  but  every  other  con 
sideration,  of  economy,  uniformity,  and  even  of  the  recruiting 
service,  is  sacrificed  to  that  sole  object. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

WASHINGTON,  18th  December,  1812. 

DEAR  SIR, — There  is  not  now  any  vacant  office  of  receiver  of 
public  moneys  in  the  Mississippi  Territory.  There  was  a  vacancy 
last  spring,  which  was  filled  before  the  end  of  the  last  session  of 
Congress. 

The  series  of  misfortunes  experienced  this  year  in  our  military 
land  operations  exceeds  all  anticipations  made  even  by  those  who 
had  least  confidence  in  our  inexperienced  officers  and  undis 
ciplined  men.  I  believe  that  General  Dearborn  has  done  all 
that  was  in  his  power.  The  conduct  of  Hull,  Rensselaer,  and 


1813.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  531 

Smyth  cannot  be  accounted  for  on  any  rational  principle.  It 
is  to  be  hoped  that  Mr.  Eustis's  resignation  will  open  brighter 
prospects.  For  although  those  three  disasters  cannot  with  justice 
be  ascribed  to  him,  yet  his  incapacity  and  the  total  want  of  con 
fidence  in  him  were  felt  through  every  ramification  of  the  public 
service.  To  find  a  successor  qualified,  popular,  and  willing  to 
accept  is  extremely  difficult. 

With  sincere  attachment  and  respect. 


MONROE   TO  GALLATIN. 

January  5,  1818. 

DEAE  SIR, — I  have  received  yours  of  yesterday,  and  approve 
in  all  respects  of  the  ideas  it  suggests.  I  have  written  to  the 
chairman  of  the  committee  to  propose  to  him  that  the  bill  be  so 
modified  as  to  leave  the  power  discretionary  with  the  President 
to  raise  such  part  of  that  force  as  may  in  his  judgment  be  proper. 
It  was  always  my  opinion  that  the  Act  ought  to  be  of  this  char 
acter,  and  it  took  its  present  form  more  by  accident  than  other 
wise.  I  had  intended  to  speak  with  the  chairman  on  Friday, 
but  did  not  see  him,  and  the  pressure  of  business  since  took  it 
from  my  memory.  My  decided  opinion  is  that  if  the  35,000 
can  be  got  into  the  field  early  in  the  spring,  they  will  be  abun 
dant  to  every  purpose,  especially  if  we  do  not  press  at  once 
against  Halifax.  I  will  do  everything  with  you  to  diminish 
expenditures,  and  have  no  doubt  that  great  savings  may  be 
made ;  but  I  wish  your  aid  on  many  points,  especially  on  all 
those  that  are  connected  with  supplies  and  expenditures  in  every 
part  of  our  military  system. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  very  sincerely  yours. 


532  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 


GALLATIN  TO   LANGDON   CHEVES. 

February  12,  1813. 

SIR, — In  answer  to  your  letter  of  yesterday,  I  have  the  honor 
to  state  that  I  still  believe  it  practicable  to  organize  the  taxes 
within  three  or  four  months  after  the  passing  of  the  laws  in  the 
shape  reported.  This,  however,  is  only  matter  of  opinion,  in 
which  I  may  be  mistaken ;  and  it  would  certainly  be  desirable, 
if  other  considerations  do  not  oppose  it,  to  prevent  the  danger  of 
disappointment,  by  allowing  more  time  for  the  selection  of  offi 
cers,  preparing  and  transmitting  the  forms  and  instructions,  and 
taking  all  other  steps  necessary  for  the  organization  of  a  difficult 
and  novel  system,  which  must  pervade  every  part  of  the  exten 
sive  territory  of  the  United  States.  The  selection  of  officers,  in 
cluding  the  time  necessary  to  ascertain  whether  they  will  accept, 
is  perhaps  the  operation  most  likely  to  produce  delay. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  respectfully,  &c. 


GALLATIN   TO  MADISON. 

March  5,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — We  have  hardly  money  enough  to  last  till  the 
end  of  the  month.  The  loan  is  opened  for  12th  and  13th  in 
stant.  The  result  will  be  known  here  (Boston  and  Charleston 
excepted)  on  Tuesday  or  Wednesday,  17th  instant.  If,  there 
fore,  there  be  any  arrangements  discretionary  with  the  President, 
such  as  the  organization  of  the  twenty  regiments  of  twelve 
months'  men,  building  ships,  &c.,  and  which  are  susceptible  of 
extension  or  curtailment,  according  to  our  resources,  it  is  desira 
ble  that  they  should  not  be  concluded  till  after  that  day  (only 
twelve  days  hence),  as  we  will  then  be  enabled  to  form  a  correct 
estimate  of  our  prospects ;  and  it  is  better,  in  case  of  failure,  to 
limit  ourselves  to  what  is  strictly  necessary  than  to  be  compelled 
to  take  retrograde  steps.  In  the  mean  while,  the  prospect  not 
being  favorable,  permit  me  earnestly  to  submit  the  propriety  of 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  533 

cutting  by  the  root  militia  expenses,  and  of  reducing  the  "West 
ern  expenditure  to  what  is  necessary  for  defensive  operations, 
relying  exclusively  on  the  possession  of  the  Lakes  for  anything 
of  an  offensive  nature. 

With  respect  to  the  enclosed,  my  reliance  on  Parish  is  not 
great ;  and  he  had  positively  refused  to  join  with  Le  Roy  and 
Girard  and  with  Mr.  Astor  in  making  proposals  for  ten  millions 
of  the  loan.  I  had  set  that  going,  and  if  it  had  succeeded  I 
would  not  have  opened  the  loan  by  subscription.  He  now  says 
that  it  would  have  been  better  to  invite  proposals. 

Respectfully  yours. 


GALLATIN   TO   MADISON. 

[Three  memoranda  without  date.] 

It  is  true  that  we  have  stripped  New  York  of  seamen  for 
the  Lakes.  This  may  at  once  be  supplied  by  ordering  all  the 
gunboat  seamen  at  Philadelphia  to  proceed  by  Trenton  and 
New  Brunswick  to  New  York,  which,  allowing  two  days7  march 
from  Trenton  to  Brunswick  (distance  twenty-six  miles),  cannot 
take  more  than  four  days.  At  Philadelphia  they  are  altogether 
useless,  and  do  nothing  but  quarrelling  with  our  collector. 


I  think  it  would  have  been  better  to  give  to  the  commissary 
the  transportation  of  the  clothing  to  the  armies. 

It  appears  indispensable  that  there  should  be  an  instruction  to 
.the  regimental  quartermasters  for  the  safe-keeping  and  distri 
bution  of  the  clothing  and  other  articles  intended  for  the  regi 
ments  respectively,  and  not  for  the  army  generally. 

The  instructions  for  the  commissary's  department  are  not 
printed. 

Governor  Tompkins,  at  the  request  of  the  general  govern 
ment,  called  into  service  detachments  of  militia  to  assist  in 
carrying  the  embargo  into  effect  along  the  Lakes.  He  also 


534  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

organized,  at  the  request  of  Generals  Dearborn  and  Wilkinson, 
the  regulars  on  the  same  service.  In  fact,  he  alone  did  all  that 
was  done  on  that  occasion,  and  even  advanced  money.  I  un 
derstand  that  his  accounts  are  suspended  because  he  cannot  pro 
duce  the  receipts  of  all  the  privates,  but  only  those  of  the  officers 
who  acted  as  paymasters.  An  adherence  to  this  rule  in  this  case 
not  only  appears  unjust,  but  will  disgust,  and  prevent  exertions 
which  may  very  soon  be  called  for  by  government. 


MADISON   TO    GALLATIN. 

April  5,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — It  is  determined  finally  to  associate  Mr.  Bayard 
in  the  Mission  Extraordinary  to  St.  Petersburg.  The  Secretary 
of  State  informs  him  of  it  by  this  mail.  It  cannot  fail  to  be 
useful  if  you  can  see  him  on  your  way  through  Wilmington, 
ascertain  his  sentiments  on  the  occasion,  and  hasten  his  prepara 
tions  if  he  should  be  willing  to  undertake  the  service.  We 
hope  the  vessel  will  sail  in  fourteen  days  at  furthest.  Affec 
tionate  respects. 

It  being  unknown  whether  Mr.  Bayard  will  accept  the  pro 
posed  mission,  it  will  be  best  to  withhold  it  from  the  general 
conversation. 

Mr.  Girard  is  permitted  to  communicate  with  the  British  com 
mander  for  the  purpose  of  ransoming  his  ship. 


GALLATIN    TO   MADISON. 


TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  April  17,  1813. 

SIR, — I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  the  copy  of  a  letter  written 
this  day  to  the  Secretaries  for  the  War  and  Navy  Department, 
which  gives  a  general  view  of  our  fiscal  situation  for  this  year, 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  535 

and  regulates  the  sums  which,  in  conformity  therewith,  may  be 
monthly  drawn  during  the  residue  of  the  year  1813,  for  the 
service  of  each  of  those  Departments  respectively. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  the  highest  respect,  sir,  your 
obedient  servant. 


[Enclosure.] 

TREASURY  DEPARTMENT,  April  17,  1813. 

SIR, — The  loan  being  now  filled,  and  the  probable  receipts  of 
the  Treasury  for  this  year  nearly  ascertained,  I  have  the  honor 
to  communicate  the  general  result,  and  the  amount  on  which  you 
may  rely  for  the  service  of  your  Department. 

The  Treasury  was  so  far  exhausted  on  the  first  day  of  this 
month  that  the  small  unexpended  balance,  dispersed  in  more 
than  thirty  banks,  could  not  have  afforded  any  further  resources. 
This  unpleasant  situation  was  principally  due  to  the  large  requisi 
tions  made  by  the  War  Department  during  the  first  quarter  of 
this  year,  and  it  is  indispensable  to  adopt  some  fixed  rules  which 
may  prevent  the  occurrence  of  a  similar  crisis. 

The  revenue  derived  from  customs,  payable  during  the  re 
mainder  of  this  year,  is  estimated  at  $9,000,000 
that  resulting  from  the  sale  of  lands  may  be  esti 
mated  at  320,000 
Revenue,                                                                         $9,320,000 

Of  the  sixteen  million  loan,  there  had  been  re 
ceived  and  expended  prior  to  the  first  of  April  a 
sum  of  $500,000,  leaving  an  unexpended  residue 
of  15,500,000 

The  only  remaining  resource  is  that  of  the  Treasury 
notes  authorized  by  the  Act  of  last  session,  which, 
though  yet  uncertain,  will  be  taken  at  its  full 
amount,  5,000,000 

Total  of  resources,  $29,820,000 

Of  the  several  branches  of  expenditure,  there  are  but  two 
which  by  law  are  entitled  to  a  priority,  viz.,  the  civil  list,  for  the 
payment  of  which  six  hundred  thousand  dollars  are  annually 


536  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

reserved  by  virtue  of  the  1st  Section  of  the  Act  of  August  4, 
1790;  and  the  payments  for  the  public  debt,  which,  with  the 
exception  of  the  said  sum  of  $600,000,  have  priority  before  all 
other  payments,  by  virtue  of  the  contracts  with  the  creditors 
and  of  the  several  laws  making  an  annual  appropriation  for  that 
purpose,  and  pledging  that  appropriation  for  the  specific  objects 
therein  mentioned,  which  may  fall  due  in  the  course  of  each 
respective  year. 

The  unexpended  balance  on  that  account  at  the  end  of  last 
year,  together  with  the  annual  appropriation  for  this  year,  after 
deducting  the  sum  expended  from  the  first  of  January  to  the 
31st  of  March  last,  amounts  to  $10,500,000 

Of  this  sum,  9,000,000  are  necessary  to  ratify  the 
demands  actually  due  and  still  payable  this  year, 
and  the  residue  of  1,500,000  must  also  be  applied, 
according  to  law,  to  the  purchase  of  stocks,  unless 
these  should,  contrary  to  every  appearance,  rise  to 
par.  To  which  adding  the  above-mentioned  sum 
of  600,000 

makes  an  aggregate  of  11,100,000 

which  deducted  from  the  aggregate  of  resources,  29,820,000 
leaves  the  sum  of  $18,720,000 

applicable  to  all  the  other  expenses,  civil,  military,  and  naval,  for 
the  remainder  of  the  year  1813. 

The  civil,  miscellaneous,  and  diplomatic  expenses  may,  in  ad 
dition  to  the  above-mentioned  sum  of  $600,000,  be  estimated  at 
about  $900,000 

which  leaves  for  the  War  and  Navy  Departments       17,820,000 

$18^20^000 

That  sum  of  17,820,000  may,  I  think,  be  divided  between 
the  two  Departments,  by  allotting  $13,220,000  to  the  War,  and 
$4,500,000  to  the  Navy,  Department.  Should  that  distribution 
be  objected  to,  the  President  must  decide,  and  the  alterations 
which  he  may  direct  will  be  obeyed;  but  the  aggregate,  being  a 
matter  of  fact  and  not  of  discretion,  cannot  be  altered  unless 
Congress  shall  think  fit  at  their  ensuing  session  to  provide  further 
funds.  By  such  funds  I  do  not  mean  appropriations,  which  are 


1813.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  537 

only  an  authority  to  expend,  but  ways  and  means  which  shall, 
in  the  course  of  the  present  year,  place  an  additional  sum  of 
money  in  the  Treasury. 

For  the  reasons  already  stated,  it  is  necessary  that  the  requi 
sitions  from  each  Department  should  be  as  regular  and  gradual 
as  the  receipts  into  the  Treasury  commonly  are,  and  that  those 

from  the]       ar  I  Department  should  not,  therefore,  for  each  of 
I  Navy  j 

the  nine  last  months  of  the  year  1813,  exceed  one-ninth  part 

i$\i  *^  ^QO  ono  i 
A  Knn  nnn  '  \  or  *^ 
jLm^J\J\J  y\J\J\J  y  J 


If  a  less  sum  should  be  sufficient  for  any  one  month,  the  un 
drawn  difference  may  be  added  to  the  requisition  for  any  of  the 
ensuing  months  where  it  may  be  wanted.  But,  with  that  excep 

tion,  no  more  than  the  said  sum  of  •]  *  J       '         I  will  be  paid 

(    500,000     J 

monthly  by  the  Treasury  on  account  of  the  J  !•  Department, 

(NavyJ 

without  a  special  order  from  the  President.  And  in  such  case 
the  surplus  thus  advanced  will  be  invariably  deducted  from  the 
payment  for  the  ensuing  month,  in  order  that  there  may  not  be 
any  risk  of  leaving  the  payments  for  the  public  debt  unprovided 
for.  These,  as  has  already  been  stated,  have  the  priority,  and 
the  public  faith  as  well  as  the  laws  require  that  those  payments 
should  at  all  events  be  made,  and  that  if  there  be  any  deficiency 
it  should  fall  on  the  other  expenses  of  government. 

With  respect  to  the  places  where  money  may  be  wanted,  I 
believe  that  it  will  be  in  the  power  of  the  Treasury,  on  receiving 
timely  notice,  to  supply  the  money  in  any  of  the  Atlantic  States 
where  it  may  be  wanted.  But  should  the  same  rate  of  expendi 

ture  be  continued  to  the  westward,  I  apprehend  that  the  J       ar  I 

(Navy) 

Department  will  be  compelled  either  to  transport  specie  or  to 
permit  its  agents  to  draw  at  a  discount.  And  it  is  not  improper 
to  add  that  this  transmission  of  specie,  by  draining  the  places 
from  which  we  exclusively  draw  our  resources,  must  have  a 


538  WRITINGS    OF     GAL  LATIN.  1813. 

tendency  to  curtail  those  resources.  The  last  loan  of  $16,000,000 
has  been  obtained  in  the  following  places,  viz.  : 

States  east  of  New  York,  $486,700 

State  of  New  York,  5,720,000 

Philadelphia,  6,858,400 

Baltimore  and  District  of  Columbia,  2,393,300 

State  of  Virginia,  187,000 

Charleston,  S.C.,  354,000 

$16,000,000 

And  it  seems  both  just  and  convenient  that,  so  far  as  there  may 
be  discretion,  and  so  far  as  it  is  practicable,  the  public  moneys 
should  be  expended  in  the  places  where  they  are  obtained. 

This  communication  it  would  at  all  events  have  been  my  duty 
to  make,  though  probably  in  an  inofficial  manner,  as  has  been 
the  case  on  former  similar  occasions.  But  it  has  been  deemed 
particularly  important  not  to  leave  with  the  gentleman  who  will 
act  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  any  difficult  question  unsettled, 
and  to  convey  at  this  time  a  clear  understanding  of  our  real  fiscal 
situation  for  the  present  year. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant. 


The  Secretary  of 

Navy. 


GALLATIN   TO  MADISON. 

BALTIMORE,  April  22,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — In  a  conversation  with  General  Armstrong,  he 
appeared  disposed  to  make  an  excursion  towards  the  scene  of 
action  on  our  northern  frontier.  I  have,  perhaps,  more  con 
fidence  in  General  Dearborn  than  almost  any  other  person,  and, 
for  many  reasons,  have  no  wish  to  see  General  Armstrong  unite 
the  character  of  general  to  that  of  secretary.  Yet,  from  my 
knowledge  of  both,  I  think  that  the  success  of  the  campaign 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  539 

may  be  secured  by  General  Armstrong's  presence  for  a  few  days 
at  the  army.  His  military  views  are  generally  more  extensive, 
and  for  this  year's  operations  appear  to  me  more  correct,  than 
those  of  General  Dearborn.  I  had  intended,  but  forgot,  on  last 
Tuesday  to  communicate  this  opinion  and  to  state  what  I  thought 
to  be  his  wish. 

With  sincere  respect  and  attachment,  yours. 


GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

PHILADELPHIA,  2d  May,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  do  not  very  well  understand  the  object  of  your 
letter  respecting  the  Floridas.1  But  it  suggests  two  observations 
which  I  beg  leave  to  submit  to  your  consideration.  1st.  Where 
is  the  importance  of  taking  possession  of  Mobile  this  summer  ? 
We  may  do  this  whenever  we  please,  and  is  it  not  better  to  delay 
every  operation  of  minor  importance  which  may  have  a  tendency 
to  impede  our  negotiations  with  Great  Britain  and  Russia  ?  You 
know  that  to  take  by  force  any  place  in  possession  of  another 
nation,  whatever  our  claim  to  that  place  may  be,  is  war ;  and 
you  must  be  aware  that  both  Russia  and  Great  Britain  will  feel 
disposed,  if  not  to  support  the  pretensions  of  Spain  against  us, 
at  least  to  take  part  against  the  aggressor.  2dly.  Can  we  not 

1  MONROE    TO    THE    AMERICAN    COMMISSIONERS. 

DEPARTMENT  OF  STATE,  27th  April,  1813. 

GENTLEMEN, — Should  Great  Britain  accept  the  mediation  of  Russia  and 
a  negotiation  ensue,  you  may  perhaps  find  it  advantageous  to  bring  to  the 
view  of  her  ministers  the  relation  which  the  United  States  bear  to  the 
Floridas,  having  a  right  to  West  Florida  by  cession  from  France,  and  a 
claim  to  East  Florida  as  an  indemnity  for  spoliations.  The  town  of  Mobile, 
the  only  part  of  West  Florida  remaining  in  the  possession  of  Spain,  will,  it 
is  expected,  have  been  taken  possession  of  by  the  troops  of  the  United 
States  before  you  commence  your  negotiation,  a  law  authorizing  it  having 
passed  Congress  at  the  last  session.  And  as  the  law  authorizing  the  Presi 
dent  to  take  possession  of  East  Florida  in  case  any  attempt  should  be  made 
by  any  foreign  power  to  occupy  it  is  still  in  force,  it  will  be  proper  for  you 
to  have  the  object  of  that  law  in  your  recollection  in  your  negotiations. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  &c.,  &c.,  &c. 


540  WKIT1NGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

receive  a  letter  giving  us  official  information  of  the  evacuation 
of  East  Florida,  which  the  papers  inform  us  to  have  taken 
place?  This  might  smooth  the  ground  and  be  perfectly  con 
sistent  with  the  view  which  it  may  be  proper  to  give  of  the  Act 
of  Congress  on  that  subject. 

I  have  conversed  with  Mr.  Bayard  on  the  subject  of  the 
instructions,  which  he  had  not  received  till  yesterday.  He 
expressed  his  apprehensions  that  we  would  fail,  and  his  regret 
that  we  had  not  more  discretion  on  the  subject  of  impressments. 
He  appeared  desirous  that  we  had  been  permitted  to  have  on 
that  subject  an  informal  understanding  with  Great  Britain, 
which  he  thought  would  have  been  as  efficient  in  practice  as 
a  solemn  article,  and  by  saving  the  pride  of  Great  Britain  could 
not  have  failed  to  insure  success. 

By  to-day's  mail  I  received  the  copy  of  Mr.  DaschkofFs  offer 
of  mediation,  but  not  that  of  your  answer  accepting  the  offer. 
I  think  it  important,  and  request  you  to  send  it  by  return  of 
mail. 

Any  letter  put  in  the  office  at  Washington  on  Tuesday  night 
will  find  me  here ;  and  any  put  in  the  office  on  Wednesday  night, 
and  directed  under  cover  of  Mr.  Bayard,  at  Wilmington,  will  find 
me  there  in  time. 

Eespectfully  and  sincerely  yours. 


MONROE   TO   GALLATIK 

WASHINGTON,  May  5,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — As  the  contemplated  arrangements  on  the  subject 
of  impressment  will  be  reciprocal  in  form ;  as  what  Great  Britain 
may  deem  a  concession  will  be  balanced  by  a  concession  on  the 
part  of  the  United  States ;  as  the  question  of  right  can  be  put 
out  of  view  in  stipulating  a  course  of  practice;  and  as  the 
stipulations  will  be  in  a  treaty  limited  for  a  fixed  term  of  years, 
it  is  not  presumable  that  any  motive  or  scruple,  much  less  any 
serious  difficulty,  will  be  opposed  to  an  article  in  the  usual  form 


1813.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  541 

providing  for  the  object.  The  President,  being  desirous  that  no 
unessential  consideration  should  embarrass  your  negotiation  or 
endanger  its  result,  intends  that  in  providing  against  the  practice 
of  impressment  from  American  vessels  you  should  exercise  an 
entire  discretion  as  to  the  mode  and  shape  of  the  provision, 
taking  care  only  that  it  be  such  as  by  fair  construction  will  bind 
the  faith  of  the  British  government  to  an  effective  discontinuance 
of  the  practice  in  question.  This  practice  being  essentially  a 
cause  of  war,  and  the  primary  object  of  your  negotiation,  a  treaty 
of  peace,  leaving  it  in  silence  and  trusting  to  a  mere  understand 
ing  liable  to  doubts  and  different  explanations,  would  not  be  that 
security  which  the  United  States  have  a  right  to  expect. 

With  respect  to  West  Florida,  possession  will  be  taken  of  it 
before  you  get  far  on  your  voyage,  if  it  is  not  already  done, 
orders  having  been  some  time  since  given  for  the  purpose.  That 
is  a  question  settled.  Orders  have  been  given  for  the  evacuation 
of  East  Florida,  of  wrhich  I  will  endeavor  to  send  you  a  copy 
by  this  conveyance. 

With  respect  to  the  insurance  of  yours  and  Mr.  Bayard's  out 
fits,  I  can  say  nothing  decisive  at  this  moment.  The  claim  will 
be  examined,  and  settled  on  principles  which  will  be,  I  doubt 
not,  satisfactory  to  you  both. 

The  copies  of  the  census  which  you  desire  will  be  sent.  I 
send  a  copy  of  certain  letters  from  the  governor  of  East  Florida 
respecting  some  measures  of  an  hostile  nature  towards  the  United 
States,  the  more  reprehensible  being  after  the  conduct  of  General 
Matthews  had  been  disavowed  and  steps  taken  for  the  evacuation 
of  the  territory. 

Having  noticed  everything  in  your  communication,  I  have 
only  to  add  my  best  wishes  for  your  success  and  welfare. 

Very  sincerely,  I  am,  dear  sir,  yours. 

Mr.  Adams  is  possessed  of  the  correspondence  with  Mr. 
Daschkoff  on  the  subject  mentioned  in  yours. 


542  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 


MONROE    TO    GALLATIN. 

WASHINGTON,  May  6,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  yours  of  the  4th.  Mr.  Brent,  one  of  the 
gentlemen  in  the  office,  left  this  with  the  mail  this  morning,  with 
despatches  to  you  and  Mr.  Bayard.  The  principal  object  was  to 
convey  an  answer  to  your  preceding  private  letter  relative  to  your 
instructions.  That  answer,  though  communicated  in  a  private 
letter,  was  decided  on  by  the  President  in  a  meeting  of  the  mem 
bers  of  the  Administration  here.  I  have  thought  much  on  the 
subject  since  receiving  your  letter,  as  well  as  while  the  instructions 
were  preparing,  and  my  conclusions  have  always  been  the  same. 
Confident  that  it  will  be  agreeable  to  you  to  receive  the  result  of 
my  reflections  in  this  mode,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  communicate  them 
without  reserve.  My  candid  opinion  is  that  if  we  do  not  secure, 
in  a  clear  and  distinct  manner,  the  forbearance  of  the  British 
practice,  in  consideration  of  the  exclusion  of  British  seamen  from 
our  service,  that  it  were  infinitely  better  that  nothing  should  be 
done.  An  arrangement  by  understanding  was  obtained  by  Mr. 
Pinkney  and  me,  and  the  practice  of  the  British  government 
afterwards  was  an  excellent  commentary  on  such  an  arrange 
ment.  It  would  be  considered  as  a  complete  victory  over  the 
United  States,  both  by  the  British  government  and  ourselves. 
You  will  recollect  also  that  the  second  proposition  made  by  Mr. 
Russell,  suggested  by  motives  of  delicacy  to  save  the  pride  of  the 
British  government,  which  required  as  the  basis  of  the  negotia 
tion  or  rather  of  the  armistice,  an  understanding  as  to  the  object, 
was  considered  an  insult  and  treated  with  disdain.  It  was  called 
by  the  most  odious  epithets,  even  in  the  declaration  of  the  Prince 
Regent  in  reply  to  our  declaration  of  wrar.  We  have  already 
manifested  our  willingness,  Congress  and  Executive,  to  remove 
the  British  cause  of  complaint.  It  is  to  be  presumed  that  if  any 
arrangement  is  made,  this  will  be  done.  It  would  be  deplorable 
indeed  if  we  did  all  that  we  could  and  received  in  return  nothing 
but  the  informal  promise  of  the  British  commissioners  or  govern 
ment  to  do  what  it  is  otherwise  their  duty  to  do.  I  believe  that 
such  an  arrangement  would  not  only  ruin  the  present  Adminis- 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  543 

tration,  but  the  Republican  party,  and  even  the  cause.  This  na 
tion  is  high-minded,  and  expects  a  result  correspondent  with  our 
rights,  and  these  are  certainly  moderately,  or  rather  modestly, 
estimated  in  the  instructions.  It  is  not  easy  to  decide  where  a 
treaty  which  should  fall  short  of  the  reasonable  expectations  of 
the  country  would  place  the  United  States.  It  would  be  consid 
ered  by  Europe  that  we  had  no  government  whatever,  and  they 
would  all  begin  immediately  to  trample  us  underfoot.  The  ex 
pulsion  of  the  present  people  from  office  with  ignominy  would 
be  among  its  least  important  effects.  The  opposition  coming  in 
on  its  principles — I  speak  of  many  of  its  leaders — could  not  re 
sist  the  British  pretensions,  though  I  should  not  be  surprised  in 
the  temper  of  the  nation,  under  such  circumstances,  if  we  should 
be  visited  by  other  and  greater  calamities.  There  seems,  there 
fore,  to  be  but  one  course  for  the  government  and  yourselves 
to  pursue,  marked  by  your  instructions  and  otherwise  too  well 
traced  to  need4  repetition.  I  have  no  doubt  of  ultimate  success, 
provided  our  nerves  are  equal  to  the  crisis :  first,  because  I  be 
lieve  that  your  mission  will  succeed,  for  I  cannot  think  that 
England  will  prolong  the  war  when  so  fair  an  opportunity  is 
presented  to  her  to  terminate  it  with  honor  and  advantage;  sec 
ondly,  I  think,  if  your  mission  fails,  that  it  will  rouse  more  fully 
the  energies  of  the  nation,  and  lead  by  greater  efforts  to  a  more 
honorable  termination,  by  the  complete  expulsion  of  the  British 
from  the  continent.  In  any  event,  I  think  it  better  for  the 
United  States,  and  more  honorable  for  the  government,  that  we 
continue  to  maintain  in  the  best  manner  we  can  the  public  rights 
until  we  succeed,  or  our  constituents,  wearied  with  the  effort,  re 
move  us  from  office  and  transfer  the  power  to  others.  Should 
that  be  the  case,  we  should  at  least  leave  an  useful  example  to 
the  country. 

On  the  subject  of  East  Florida,  I  think  I  intimated  to  you  in 
my  last  that  Colonel  Lear  was  under  the  most  perfect  conviction, 
on  the  authority  of  information  from  respectable  sources  at  Cadiz, 
that  the  Spanish  Regency  had  sold  that  and  the  other  province 
to  the  British  government,  and  that  it  had  done  so  under  a  be 
lief  that  we  had  or  should  soon  get  possession  of  it.  My  firm 
belief  is  that  if  we  were  possessed  of  both  it  would  facilitate  your 


544  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 

negotiations  in  favor  of  impressment  and  every  other  object, 
especially  if  it  was  distinctly  seen  by  the  British  ministers  or 
minister  that,  instead  of  yielding  them  or  any  part  of  either,  we 
would  push  our  fortunes  in  that  direction  and  in  Canada  if  they 
did  not  hasten  to  accommodate.  Satisfied  I  am  that  the  more 
we  endeavor  to  tranquillize  their  fears  and  to  conciliate  their 
esteem  by  any  species  of  concession  or  accommodation  which 
may  be  imputed  to  timidity  or  a  desire  to  get  out  of  the  war,  by 
the  tone  assumed  in  the  negotiation,  the  more  certain  its  failure, 
and  the  longer  will  be  the  continuance  of  the  war  afterwards. 

I  send  a  letter  of  credence  to  the  Emperor,  which  you  will 
use  if  justified  by  usage  and  found  necessary  or  useful  as  an 
evidence  of  respect.  I  write  in  much  haste. 

With  great  respect,  &c. 


GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

WILMINGTON,  8th  May,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — We  have  received  by  Mr.  Brent,  or  by  mail,  all 
the  despatches,  instructions,  and  letters  which  either  we  or  you 
had  thought  necessary.  I  do  not  recollect  anything  to  have 
been  forgotten.  Our  ship  is  at  Newcastle,  our  baggage  on  board, 
and  we  are  ready  to  sail  the  moment  the  wind  will  permit.  It 
is  to-day  directly  ahead,  but  from  its  long  continuance  in  that 
direction  we  expect  a  change  every  moment. 

From  the  earnestness  of  your  last  letter  (of  6th  instant),  I  ap 
prehend  that  you  have  misunderstood  my  meaning  on  the  subject 
of  an  informal  arrangement  respecting  impressments.  Any  such 
I  disapprove  as  much  as  yourself,  and  have  never  varied  in  my 
opinion  that  an  article  in  the  treaty  giving  us  security  in  that 
respect  was  a  sine  qua  non  condition.  When  I  made  the  com 
munication  contained  in  my  letter  of  the  2d  instant,  it  was  only 
for  the  purpose  of  putting  you  in  possession  of  the  fact  that 
Mr.  Bayard  had  viewed  an  informal  arrangement  as  equally 
efficient  and  more  practicable  than  a  solemn  article.  But  you 
may  rest  assured  that  he  will  not  be  the  least  earnest  in  his 
endeavors  to  obtain  the  terms  prescribed  by  our  instructions. 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  545 

On  the  subject  of  Florida  I  have  always  differed  in  opinion 
with  you,  and  am  rejoiced  to  have  it  in  our  power  to  announce 
the  evacuation  of  the  province.  Let  it  alone  until  you  shall, 
by  the  introduction  of  British  troops,  have  a  proof  of  the  sup 
posed  cession.  In  this  I  do  not  believe.  It  can  be  nothing 
more  than  a  permission  to  occupy  it  in  order  to  defend  it  for 
Spain.  By  withdrawing  our  troops  we  withdraw  the  pretence ; 
but  the  impolitic  occupancy  of  Mobile  will,  I  fear,  renew  our 
difficulties.  The  object  is  at  present  of  very  minor  importance, 
swelled  into  consequence  by  the  representations  from  that  quar 
ter,  and  which  I  would  not  at  this  moment  have  attempted, 
amongst  other  reasons,  because  it  was  a  Southern  one,  and  will, 
if  it  should  involve  us  in  a  war  with  Spain,  disgust  every  man 
north  of  Washington.  ITou  will  pardon  the  freedom  with  which, 
on  the  eve  of  parting  with  you,  I  speak  on  this  subject.  It  is 
intended  as  a  general  caution,  which  I  think  important,  because 
I  know  and  see  every  day  the  extent  of  geographical  feeling,  and 
the  necessity  of  prudence  if  we  mean  to  preserve  and  invigorate 
the  Union. 

"With  every  wish  for  your  success  in  the  management  of  our 
public  affairs,  and  for  your  private  welfare  and  prosperity,  and 
with  respectful  attachment,  I  remain,  &c. 

It  appeared  to  me  improper  to  give  Mr.  Pflug  any  American 
character  or  appearance ;  concealment  of  his  being  employed  to 
carry  the  Russian  despatches  being,  as  I  thought,  forbidden  by 
the  law  of  nations.  (See  Robinson's  Reports,  sixth  volume,  two 
last  cases, — Atalanta  and  Carolina.) 


GALLATIN   TO   MESSRS.  BARING   BROS.  &   CO. 

GOTTENBURG,  22d  June,  1813. 

GENTLEMEN, — The  President  of  the  United  States  having 
accepted  on  the  part  of  the  said  States  the  mediation  offered  by 
the  Emperor  of  Russia,  Mr.  Bayard  and  myself  have  been  ap 
pointed,  jointly  with  Mr.  Adams,  ministers,  with  full  powers  to 
VOL.  i. — 36 


546  WRITINGS   OF   GALLATIN. 

treat  of  peace  with  such  ministers  as  may  be  appointed  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain.  We  left  the  United  States  in  the  public 
ship  Neptune,  Captain  Lloyd  Jones,  on  the  llth  of  May,  arrived 
here  on  the  20th  instant,  and  intend  to  proceed  this  evening  in 
the  ship  on  our  way  to  St.  Petersburg. 

We  are  authorized  to  draw  on  you  for  our  salaries  and  for  the 
contingent  expenses  of  the  mission,  and,  in  order  to  assist  us  with 
the  best  mode  of  negotiating  bills,  will  thank  you  to  let  us  know 
at  St.  Petersburg  the  course  of  exchange  between  London  and 
Amsterdam. 

We  will  also  be  obliged  to  you  to  have  the  account  and  date 
of  our  arrival  here  inserted  in  Lloyd's  List  and  some  other  paper, 
as  it  may  give  to  our  friends  in  America  the  earliest  account  of 
our  safe  arrival. 

Of  the  fact  that  we  are  appointed  to  treat  and  on  our  way  to 
St.  Petersburg  for  that  purpose,  as  stated  in  the  first  paragraph 
of  this  letter,  I  should  wish  your  government  to  be  informed. 
And  we  will  be  thankful  for  any  intelligence  connected  with 
our  mission  which  you  may  deem  important  and  which  you  may 
feel  at  liberty  to  communicate.  We  sailed  with  a  passport  from 
Admiral  Warren ;  and  whatever  may  be  the  result  of  this  mission, 
we  feel  anxious  to  return  speedily  and  safely  to  America.  We 
will  detain  the  Neptune  at  St.  Petersburg  for  that  purpose,  and 
may  want  a  passport  from  your  government  for  her  return  with 
ourselves  and  suite  on  board.  It  is  presumable  that  this  will  be 
obtained  without  difficulty.  And  will  thank  you  to  make  the 
inquiry,  and  to  cause,  if  necessary,  such  passport  to  be  forwarded 
to  us  at  St.  Petersburg. 


ALEXANDER   BARING    TO   GALLATIN. 

LONDON,  July  22,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  letter  with  which  you  honored  my  house 
from  Gottenburg  has  remained  for  a  few  days  unanswered,  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  information  necessary  to  enable  me 
to  make  a  satisfactory  reply. 

For  the  money  you  may  require  you  will  please  to  direct 


1813.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  547 

drafts  upon  us  or  on  Amsterdam  in  any  manner  you  may  think 
expedient.  Messrs.  Meyer  &  Bruxner,  bankers  at  St.  Petersburg, 
by  whom  this  letter  will  be  conveyed  to  you,  have  our  directions 
to  obey  any  orders  you  may  give  them  on  this  subject,  presuming 
that  you  will  prefer  not  to  let  your  own  drafts  go  into  public 
circulation.  Our  present  exchange  with  Holland  is  about  79  the 
pound  sterling,  which  will  enable  you  to  calculate  what  mode  of 
reimbursement  will  best  answer  your  purpose. 

I  have  taken  care  to  make  in  the  proper  quarter  the  communi 
cations  you  desire,  and,  as  you  express  a  wish  to  be  informed  of 
any  occurrences  here  relating  to  your  mission,  some  observations 
may  perhaps  be  acceptable  on  the  dispositions  of  government 
and  of  the  public  concerning  it,  upon  which  I  have  good  reason 
to  assure  you  that  you  may  perfectly  rely. 

I  anticipated  the  most  favorable  result  from  the  names  which 
constituted  this  new  commission,  and  felt  confident  that  we  should 
soon  see  an  end  of  this  senseless  war.  I  was  quite  sure  you  would 
not  leave  your  home  without  the  powers  and  the  disposition  to 
do  your  country  this  essential  service,  and  although  the  place 
fixed  upon  for  the  negotiation,  and  the  manner  in  which  it  was 
proposed  to  conduct  it,  considerably  abated  the  confidence  of  the 
public,  I  never  entertained  those  doubts  of  the  sincerity  of 
America  with  which  those  circumstances  inspired  others. 

The  mediation  of  Russia  was  oifered,  not  sought, — it  was  fairly 
and  frankly  accepted, — I  do  not  see  how  America  could  with  any 
consistency  refuse  it ;  but  to  the  eyes  of  a  European  politician  it 
was  clear  that  such  an  interference  could  produce  no  practical 
benefit,.  The  only  question  now  seriously  at  issue  between  us  is 
one  purely  of  a  domestic  nature  in  each  country  respectively ;  no 
foreign  government  can  fairly  judge  of  it.  A  question  of  the 
relative  rights  and  duties  of  sovereign  and  subject  between  two 
great  countries,  where,  owing  to  their  recent  separation,  a  dis 
tinction  between  the  great  masses  of  their  seafaring  population 
becomes  almost  impossible,  can  only  exist  between  Great  Britain 
and  America;  no  other  country  can  judge  of  the  various  positions 
of  great  delicacy  and  importance  to  which  such  a  state  of  things 
must  give  rise ;  and  even  where  the  best  understanding  prevails 
between  European  courts,  there  are  shades  of  difference  and 


548  WHITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 

sometimes  feelings  of  various  sorts  which  must  prevent  any 
cordial  mediation  on  such  points.  On  the  other  hand,  what  a 
handle  does  such  a  subject  offer  for  fomenting  discord  on  points 
totally  foreign  from  it !  We  have  lately  seen  a  threat  of  dragging 
American  politics  into  a  German  congress,  among  powers  neither 
understanding  nor  caring  for  any  of  its  interests,  but  merely  to 
enable  them  to  wrangle  more  dexterously  about  their  own. 

This  is  not  the  way  for  Great  Britain  and  America  really  to 
settle  their  disputes ;  intelligent  persons  of  the  two  countries 
might  devise  mutual  securities  and  concessions  which  perhaps 
neither  country  would  offer  in  the  presence  of  a  third  party.  It 
is  a  sort  of  family  quarrel,  where  foreign  interference  can  only 
do  harm  and  irritate  at  any  time,  but  more  especially  in  the 
present  state  of  Europe,  when  attempts  would  be  made  to  make 
a  tool  of  America  in  a  manner  which  I  am  sure  neither  you  nor 
your  colleagues  would  sanction. 

These,  I  have  good  reason  to  know,  are  pretty  nearly  the 
sentiments  of  government  here  on  the  question  of  place  of  nego 
tiation  and  foreign  mediation,  and  before  this  reaches  you  you 
will  have  been  informed  that  this  mediation  has  been  refused, 
with  expressions  of  our  desire  to  treat  separately  and  directly 
here,  or,  if  more  agreeable  to  you,  at  Gottenburg. 

I  believe  you  may  rely  upon  it  that  from  this  resolution  wre 
shall  not  here  depart,  not  only  from  the  sense  of  the  objections 
I  have  already  stated  to  a  mediating  negotiation,  but  that  your 
persevering  in  such  a  course  will  be  considered  here  as  the  touch 
stone  of  your  sincerity.  Although  I  trust  our  government  does 
not  participate  in  the  prevailing  opinion  here  that  a  secret  political 
connection  exists  with  France,  yet  your  persevering  in  bringing 
this  insulated  question  before  the  powers  of  the  Continent  would 
favor  those  suspicions,  and  induce  ministers  to  believe  that  your 
only  object  was  to  assist  France  in  the  sort  of  mystification  and 
confusion  in  which  it  often  suits  her  purpose  to  involve  her 
diplomatic  negotiations. 

I  trust  that  these  considerations,  duly  weighed,  will  satisfy  you 
that  no  inference  is  to  be  drawn  from  our  refusal  of  the  Russian 
mediation  unfavorable  to  our  disposition  for  peace,  and  that  if 
we  wish  to  remove  the  seat  of  the  negotiation  it  is  in-  realitv  for 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  549 

the  purpose  of  coming  at  that  result  with  more  certainty.  This 
city  has,  I  understand,  been  proposed  to  you,  and  Gottenburg 
offered  as  an  alternative  in  case  you  do  not  choose  to  trust  your 
selves  so  near  to  us. 

My  hopes  of  a  favorable  result  would  be  much  increased  by 
your  coming  at  once  in  contact  with  our  ministers.  The  advan 
tages  in  all  cases  of  treating  with  principals  is  obvious,  but  the 
peculiar  character  of  the  point  in  dispute  gives  them  greater 
weight.  You  would  find  any  minister  of  this  country  very 
cautious  in  giving  instructions  to  any  plenipotentiary  to  treat  on 
a  subject  of  so  much  delicacy  as  the  rights  and  duties  of  sovereign 
and  subject.  Those  instructions  must  remain  recorded  in  his 
office,  and  may  be  called  for  by  Parliament.  Concessions  might 
be  made,  securities  and  substitutes  devised,  and  difficulties  over 
come  in  a  direct  negotiation  which  I  should  almost  despair  of 
if  it  were  to  be  carried  on  at  a  distance;  and  I  am  quite  sure 
that  the  mass  of  intelligence  which  your  commission  affords  on 
the  relative  policy  of  Great  Britain  and  America  is  more  than  a 
match  for  all  our  island  can  produce  on  the  same  subject,  upon 
which  the  ignorance  of  many  of  our  leading  characters  would 
probably  surprise  you.  But  you  would  naturally  wish  to  ask 
the  question  whether,  should  you  consent  to  come  here  to  nego 
tiate,  there  is  a  probable  chance  of  a  favorable  result.  Upon 
this  I  will  give  you  my  candid  opinion,  and  I  know  that  I  can, 
without  deceiving  you,  state  the  sentiments  of  government. 

That  we  wish  for  a  restoration  of  peace  with  you  need  not 
be  argued.  Our  situation,  the  great  contest  in  which  we  are 
engaged,  make  it  impossible  that  we  should  be  otherwise  than 
heartily  desirous  of  putting  an  end  to  a  contest  from  which  we 
suffer  considerably  (though,  perhaps,  less  than  was  anticipated), 
and  from  which  no  good  can  result.  The  extent  of  injury  which 
the  two  countries  can  do  each  other  is  now  pretty  well  ascer 
tained,  we  can  tease  and  weaken  each  other  without  any  prac 
tical  result,  and  you  cannot  for  a  moment  doubt  our  wish  to 
carry  the  resources  now  employed  in  defending  ourselves  against 
you  into  the  more  important  field  of  European  contest. 

With  these  feelings,  why  has  the  war  continued  so  long?  The 
only  serious  point  at  issue  may  be  said  to  be  that  of  the  impress- 


550  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

ment  of  seamen, — a  question  presenting  of  itself  serious  and 
not  imaginary  difficulties.  To  hope  for  any  solution  of  them 
the  disposition  on  both  sides  must  be  sincere,  the  spirit  of  peace 
must  animate  both  parties,  and  I  will  not  disguise  from  you 
that  when  America  set  this  question  of  seamen  up  as  cause  of 
war  after  the  great  effort  for  conciliation  was  made  in  the  repeal 
of  the  orders  in  council,  the  prevalent  opinion  here  was  that  the 
war  was  a  war  of  passion  with  the  people  of  America,  and  that 
concessions  would  only  show  weakness,  and  never  satisfy  them, 
and  that  therefore  no  alternative  was  left  to  us  but  to  fight  it 
out  as  well  as  we  could.  Whether  this  opinion  was  well  or  ill 
founded  need  not  now  be  discussed;  it  prevented  at  the  time 
any  deliberate  consideration  of  the  question  of  seamen,  which 
was  considered  merely  as  a  pretext,  to  be  followed  by  some 
other  if  once  removed.  This  opinion  I  believe  to  be,  in  as  far 
as  government  is  concerned,  on  the  change.  The  representation 
of  persons  desirous  of  seeing  a  return  of  peace  on  honorable 
terms,  a  growing  opinion  that  America  has  a  real  and  serious 
interest  in  this  question  of  seamen,  the  repeated  wish  expressed 
by  your  Executive,  and  above  all,  the  characters  appointed  for 
the  pacific  mission  to  St.  Petersburg,  have  excited  hopes ;  there 
is  a  disposition  to  examine  the  question,  and  I  am  quite  certain 
that  I  can  now  assure  you  that  should  you  come  here  you  will 
be  received  with  confidence  in  your  intentions,  with  great  per 
sonal  respect,  and  with  a  determination  to  come  to  terms  of 
peace  with  you  if  it  be  found  practicable  to  do  so  consistently 
with  the  safety  of  our  maritime  power,  supposed  to  be,  and 
which  undoubtedly  is,  involved  in  this  question. 

So  much  I  can  confidently  say  of  the  disposition  existing 
here.  But  are  the  difficulties,  supposing  the  disposition  on  both 
sides  to  be  perfect,  of  themselves  insurmountable,  or  are  we 
doomed  to  the  necessity  of  perpetual  war  ?  Upon  this  point  I 
will  give  you  with  sincerity  my  opinion.  I  shall  not  trouble 
you  with  any  extensive  discussion  of  a  subject  with  which  you 
are  so  well  acquainted.  The  difficulties  are  very  considerable, 
but,  although  I  can  hardly  say  that  I  think  they  can  be  sur 
mounted  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  both  parties,  I  do  think 
that  by  sincere  and  friendly  discussions  some  system  may  be 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  551 

devised  of  practical  efficiency  to  answer  the  reasonable  purposes 
of  both  countries.  At  all  events,  it  is  the  duty  of  both  to 
make  some  arrangement,  because  some  arrangement  or  perpet 
ual  war  are  the  only  alternative.  It  is  easy  on  either  side  to 
dress  the  question  out  with  popular  attractions,  but  any  indif 
ferent  person  understanding  it  and  considering  it  calmly  must 
be  sensible  that  on  our  side  we  could  not  admit  your  pretensions 
to  their  full  extent  without  endangering  the  discipline,  and  even 
the  existence,  of  our  navy,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  that  on  your 
part  you  cannot  submit  to  the  existing  system  as  practised  by 
us.  There  is,  therefore,  a  necessity  of  some  settlement.  If  you 
submitted  at  present,  the  growing  power  and  population  of 
America  would  force  a  settlement  on  the  two  countries  at  no 
distant  period,  perhaps  after  ruinous  wars.  Being  frequently 
accused  here  of  undue  partiality  towards  America,  I  trust  at 
least  that  I  shall  have  credit  with  you  for  a  sincere  wish  to  see 
an  end  put  to  so  permanent  and  certain  a  source  of  strife ;  but  I 
must  freely  confess  that,  highly  as  I  value  a  state  of  peace  and 
harmony  with  America,  I  am  so  sensible  of  the  danger  to  our 
naval  power  from  anything  like  an  unrestricted  admission  of 
your  principles,  that  I  should  almost  incline  to  think  it  safer  to 
consider  an  American  as  an  inevitable  concomitant  of  a  French 
war,  and  to  provide  for  it  accordingly.  It  is  useless  to  discuss 
the  abstract  question  of  right  when  it  becomes  one  of  necessity, 
and  with  us  I  sincerely  believe  it  to  be  so. 

If,  therefore,  the  disposition  of  your  government  be  to  adhere 
pertinaciously  to  the  determination  to  give  us  no  better  security 
than  the  Act  of  Congress  lately  passed,  I  should  certainly  think 
your  coming  here  or  negotiating  anywhere  useless  for  any  good 
purpose.  I  know  it  must  be  so,  because  I  know  that  any  gov 
ernment  of  this  country  would  be  restrained  from  such  an  un 
limited  concession  by  its  known  and  certain  danger,  by  the  state 
of  public  opinion,  and  that  the  best  friends  to  the  restoration 
of  peace  would  not  be  bold  enough  to  recommend  it.  But,  on 
the  other  hand,  if  you  are  desirous  of  endeavoring,  by  mutual 
explanation  and  concession,  to  consult  the  security  and  just  ap 
prehension  of  both  countries,  I  know  that  I  can  assure  you  that 
you  will  find  a  corresponding  disposition  here ;  and  although  I 


552  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

would  not  speak  lightly  of  the  difficulties  to  be  overcome,  I  am 
inclined  by  a  long  consideration  of  the  subject  to  anticipate  every 
reasonable  degree  of  success  from  the  joint  eiforts  of  yourselves 
and  those  persons  whom  our  government  will  be  prepared  to  ap 
point  to  meet  you. 

I  have  thus,  my  dear  sir,  ventured  to  suggest  to  you  what  oc 
curs  to  me  on  the  interesting  subject  of  your  mission.  I  should 
not  have  risked  opinions  without  feeling  certain  that  I  was  not 
misleading  you  if  you  think  proper  to  trust  to  them.  I  hope 
they  will  encourage  you  not  to  return  to  America  without  at 
least  making  an  experiment  in  the  manner  most  likely  to  lead 
to  success. 

I  am  assured  by  my  Lord  Castlereagh  that  the  requisite  order 
shall  be  sent  for  permitting  your  cartel-ship,  the  Neptune,  to 
carry  the  gentlemen  composing  your  mission  wherever  they  may 
think  proper ;  and  I  trust  that  I  shall  be  ere  long  gratified  by 
seeing  her  bring  with  you  the  hope  of  peace  to  our  shores. 

If  I  can  be  personally  of  any  service,  I  trust  you  will  freely 
command  me,  and  that  I  may  be  permitted  to  present  my  com 
pliments  to  Mr.  Bayard  and  Mr.  Adams,  with  whom  I  believe 
I  have  the  advantage  of  a  very  slight  acquaintance,  which  I 
should  have  the  greatest  satisfaction  in  being  afforded  an  oppor 
tunity  of  improving. 

I  am,  with  great  consideration  and  personal  regard,  dear  sir, 
your  very  obedient  servant. 


THE   AMERICAN    COMMISSIONERS    TO   THE    EMPEROR  ALEXANDER. 

Inofficial    note1    concerning   the   impressment  of  seamen  on 
board  of  American  vessels  by  the  officers  of  the  British  navy. 

2rl 
ST.  PETERSBURG,  August,  1813. 


The  impressment  of  American  seamen  has  been,  ever  since  the 
year  1792,  and  until  the  commencement  of  the  present  war  be- 

1  The  original  in  French  was  written  by  Mr.  Gallatin.     The  translation 
was  made  by  J.  Q.  Adams. 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  553 

tween  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  a  constant  subject  of 
remonstrance  on  the  part  of  the  government  of  the  United  States. 
After  general  fruitless  negotiations,  the  war  at  length  broke  out : 
to  this  cause  it  must  chiefly  be  ascribed ;  and  a  settlement  on 
this  subject  is  the  greatest  difficulty  to  be  surmounted  to  accom 
plish  a  restoration  of  peace  between  the  two  countries. 

The  pretensions  of  Great  Britain  had  at  first  appeared  to  be 
confined  to  British  seamen  who  had  deserted  from  some  ship  and 
entered  the  American  service.  They  were  gradually  extended 
further.  The  British  government  claimed  and  seized  all  British 
subjects,  whether  deserters  or  otherwise,  and  at  the  same  time,  in 
the  face  of  their  own  principles,  refused  to  discharge  American 
seamen  settled  or  married  in  England,  or  who,  they  pretended, 
had  voluntarily  entered  their  service. 

But,  whatever  might  be  the  nature  of  the  real  or  pretended 
rights  of  Great  Britain,  it  was  the  extraordinary  means  which 
she  employed  to  maintain  them  which  the  United  States  were 
always  bound  to  resist.  Instead  of  seeking  to  recover  her  seamen 
by  demands  addressed  to  the  American  government  or  by  con 
senting  to  some  reciprocal  and  definitive  settlement,  from  the 
beginning  and  without  interruption  she  had  recourse  to  force. 
For  twenty  years  in  succession  her  naval  officers  have  seized 
and  carried  away,  without  any  formality,  from  on  board  Ameri 
can  vessels,  not  only  in  British  ports  but  on  the  high  seas,  and 
sometimes  even  in  neutral  ports,  every  passenger  and  seaman 
whom  it  suited  their  convenience  to  take  and  whom  they  pre 
tended  to  be  British  subjects.  By  an  unavoidable  consequence 
of  such  an  aggression,  the  abuses  have  far  outstripped  the  iniqui 
tous  principle  advanced.  Thousands  of  native  American  seamen 
have  been  torn  from  their  country  and  their  families,  forced  to 
enter  into  a  foreign  service  and  to  fight  against  nations  at  peace 
with  their  own.  Although  the  pretext  employed  to  palliate  this 
enormity  was  the  difficulty  of  distinguishing  the  Americans  from 
the  English,  even  foreign  seamen  in  the  American  service,  whose 
language  made  it  impossible  to  mistake  them  for  British  subjects, 
have  often  been  taken.  The  United  States  never  could  submit 
to  such  an  order  of  things.  Their  navigation  was  materially 
affected  by  it,  not  merely  by  the  loss  of  the  seamen  thus  taken 


554  WKITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

from  it,  but  by  that  of  the  still  greater  numbers  driven  to  aban 
don  their  profession  or  deterred  from  embracing  it  by  the  dread 
of  British  impressment.  Above  all,  America  was  bound  to  pro 
tect  her  own  citizens ;  and  she  owed  it  to  herself  and  to  other  na 
tions  not  to  endure  such  an  outrage  upon  her  independence  and 
her  sovereignty,  such  a  debasement  of  her  flag,  such  a  flagrant 
violation  of  her  neutrality.  Nevertheless,  the  government  of  the 
United  States,  with  patience  unparalleled,  and  which  is  perhaps 
the  only  blame  that  can  be  imputed  to  them,  never  ceased  during 
twenty  years  together  to  negotiate,  to  discuss,  and  to  forbear. 

It  would  be  useless  to  enter  into  the  detail  of  all  the  discus 
sions  which  have  taken  place  on  this  subject,  and  it  appears  suf 
ficient  to  point  out  the  specific  propositions  which  at  different 
times  have  been  made. 

In  the  year  1800,  his  Britannic  Majesty's  minister  to  the  United 

v.,  for  what  occurred  States>  Ml>'  Liston>  having  Proposed  a  plan  for 
under  General  Wash-  the  reciprocal  restitution  of  the  deserters  from 
ti^nTco'iectilTN^T  tn6  service  of  the  two  nations,  which  appeared 
P.  5  to  11,  and  39  to  44.  to  recognize  the  British  pretension  upon  the  sub 
ject  of  impressment,  the  government  of  the  United  States  offered 
to  enter  into  a  reciprocal  engagement  to  deliver 

V.  Collection  No.  l,p. 

13  to  35,  particularly  p.  up  deserters  upon  condition  that  the  practice  of 
ton^plal'andp1^,^;  forcibly  seizing  seamen  upon  that  pretext  on 
Art.  4,  of  the  American  board  of  American  vessels  should  thenceforth 

counter-project.  rm  .  ...  ,11 

cease.  Inis  proposition  was  not  accepted,  and 
the  abuses  on  one  side  and  the  remonstrances  on  the  other 
continued  until  the  Peace  of  Amiens. 

In  1803,  on  the  renewal  of  the  maritime  war,  Mr.  King,  the 
v.  collection  NO.  i,  P.  minister  from  the  United  States  in  England, 
35  to  39,  and  44  to  48.  attempted  to  conclude  a  settlement,  and  believed 
he  was  on  the  point  of  succeeding.  Lord  St.  Vincent,  who  was  at 
the  head  of  the  Admiralty  under  Mr.  Addington's  Administration, 
and  to  whom  the  matter  had  been  referred,  verbally  consented  to 
a  convention  in  the  following  terms: 

v.  the  whole  letter  of       l'  No  seaman  n°r  seafaring  person  shall  upon 

Mr.King.intheCoiiec-  the  high  seas,  and  without  the  jurisdiction  of 

50-    either  party,  be  demanded  or  taken  out  of  any 

ship  or  vessel  belonging  to  the  citizens  or  subjects  of  one  of 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  555 

the  parties  by  the  public  W  private  armed  ships  or  men-of-war 
belonging  to  or  in  the  service  of  the  other  party,  and  strict  orders 
shall  be  given  for  the  due  observance  of  this  engagement. 

2.  Each  party  will  prohibit  its  citizens  or  subjects  from  clandes 
tinely  concealing  or  carrying  away  from  the  territories  or  colonial 
possessions  of  the  other  any  seaman  belonging  to  such  other  party. 

3.  These  regulations  shall  be  in  force  for  five  years,  and  no 
longer. 

An  unexpected  objection  broke  off  the  negotiation.  Lord 
St.  Vincent  claimed  an  exception  from  the  arrangement,  of  the 
narrow  seas,  as  belonging  exclusively  to  Great  Britain.  Mr. 
King  justly  thought  it  better  not  to  conclude  the  convention 
than  to  acquiesce  in  this  extraordinary  and  obsolete  pretension, 
by  which  England  arrogated  to  herself  the  sovereignty  of  the 
Channel  and  other  open  seas,  through  which  the  whole  com 
merce  of  the  United  States  with  Holland,  Germany,  and  the 
Baltic  must  necessarily  pass. 

In  1806,  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney,  ministers  from  the 
United  States  at  London,  were  authorized  to  open  a  negotiation 
and  to  conclude  a  treaty  which  should  embrace  all  the  subjects 
of  difference  between  the  United  States  and  England.  Lords 
Holland  and  Auckland  had  the  same  powers  on  the  part  of  the 
British  government.  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney  proposed, 
with  regard  to  impressment,  an  article  more  de-  v.  NO.  2,  for  their  pro- 
tailed,  but  in  substance  like  the  first  article  of  Ject- 
Mr.  King's  plan,  and  offered  to  consent  to  another  article,  by 
which  it  should  be,  first,  forbidden  to  every  captain  or  master 
of  a  vessel  of  either  of  the  parties  being  in  the  ports  of  a  third 
power,  or  in  the  ports  of  one  of  the  parties,  with  a  vessel  of  the 
other  party,  to  receive  on  board  and  carry  to  sea  any  sailor 
belonging  to  and  deserting  from  such  vessel ;  and,  secondly, 
enjoined  that  in  case  any  master  of  a  vessel  should,  notwith 
standing,  receive  on  board,  and  carry  into  a  port  of  his  own 
country,  sailors  having  so  deserted  in  a  neutral  port,  they  should 
be  delivered  up  to  the  consul  of  their  nation  upon  their  arrival. 

The  English  negotiators  rejected  these  propo-  v.,  for  tins  counter- 
sitions,  and  offered  a  counter-project,  by  which  the  Pro-'ect' No- 2- 
two  powers  were  to  engage  to  enact  laws,  in  cases  when  either  of 


556  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 

the  two  nations  should  be  at  war,  to  punish  severely  every  cap 
tain  of  a  belligerent  vessel  who  should  impress  or  carry  off,  on 
any  pretence  whatsoever,  from  on  board  the  neutral  vessels,  the 
native  subjects  of  the  neutral,  or  others,  not  being  the  subjects  of 
the  belligerent.  This  proposition  was  necessarily  considered  as 
altogether  inadmissible,  inasmuch  as  it  recognized  as  lawful  the 
pretended  right  of  England  to  seize  on  board  of  American  vessels 
those  whom  she  should  consider  as  her  subjects.  By  accepting 
it,  America  would  have  sacrificed  her  rights  and  abandoned  for 
ever  the  hope  of  an  arrangement  founded  upon  justice.  And 
this  sacrifice  and  abandonment  would  have  been  entirely  gratui 
tous;  for  England,  having  never  pretended  to  a  right  of  im 
pressing  native  American  seamen,  promised  nothing  but  what 
upon  her  own  principles  and  without  any  stipulation  she  was 
already  bound  to  do ;  and  in  the  last  resort  she  offered  no  secu 
rity,  other  than  the  expectation,  so  often  disappointed,  of  a  more 
moderate  conduct  on  the  part  of  her  government  and  naval 
officers. 

All  hopes  of  concluding  a  positive  arrangement  having  van 
ished,  the  English  commissioners  addressed  a  note  to  Messrs. 
v.  their  note,  sth  NO-  Monroe  and  Pinkuey,  in  which,  after  having 
vember,  1806,  NO.  2.  declared  that  the  British  government  was  not 
prepared  to  abandon  a  right  founded  on  immemorial  usage,  and 
in  the  exercise  of  which  the  security  of  the  British  navy  might 
be  essentially  involved,  that  they  were  nevertheless  ready  to  dis 
cuss  any  plan  that  could  be  devised  to  secure  the  interests  of 
both  states  without  any  injury  to  rights  to  which  they  were 
respectively  attached,  and  that  in  the  mean  time  the  most  posi 
tive  orders  should  be  given  that  the  citizens  of  the  United  States 
should  not  be  molested  or  injured  by  the  impressment  of  British 
subjects.  The  wish  was  expressed  of  terminating  the  other 
subjects  of  difference  by  a  treaty. 

The  American  ministers  justly  considered  the  pledge  offered 
by  this  note,  which  required  nothing  from  the  United  States,  as 
a  method  preferable  to  the  stipulation  proposed  by  the  counter- 
project.  Believing  that  the  British  Administration,  weakened 
by  the  death  of  Mr.  Fox,  offered  perhaps  all  that  they  dared, 
and  hoping  that  a  definitive  adjustment  of  the  other  points 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  557 

might  tend  to  conciliate  the  two  governments,  and  might  lead, 
under  more  favorable  circumstances,  to  an  arrangement  on  the 
subject  of  impressment,  they  consented,  contrary  to  their  instruc 
tions,  to  sign  a  treaty  of  commerce,  which  did 

.      ,       i  ,  -.  i  .  .  31st  December,  1806. 

indeed  embrace  most  ot  the  questions  in  contro 
versy  between  the  two  powers,  but  which  contained  no  article 
respecting  impressment,  and  no  definition  of  what  should  consti 
tute  a  lawful  blockade.  The  treaty  was  likewise  accompanied 
by  a  note  from  the  English  commissioners,  declaring  that,  on 
certain  contingencies,  the  British  ratification  of  the  treaty  might 
be  withheld,  or  similar  measures  taken  to  those  which  were  in 
fact  afterwards  adopted  by  England  under  the  denomination  of 
Orders  in  Council. 

The  President  of  the  United  States  (Mr.  Jefferson),  though 
approving  the  motives  of  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney,  abso 
lutely  refused  to  ratify  a  treaty  which  left  the  question  of  im 
pressment  undecided,  and,  without  even  consulting  the  Senate, 
sent  it  immediately  back  with  new  instructions  to  the  American 
ministers.  Then  for  the  first  time,  seeing  the  impossibility  of 
obtaining  from  England  an  abandonment  of  her  pretension  on 
the  sole  condition  of  restoring  her  deserters,  and  finding  it  was 
necessary  to  propose  a  plan  which  should  give  her  entire  satis 
faction  with  regard  to  her  seamen,  the  American  v  extract  from  the 
government  made  an  advance  towards  the  basis  instructions  of  2oth 

i          i  i  i         •        i    •*  IT  ~\ir  MaJ'»  I80?,  NO.  2. 

now  contemplated,  and  authorized  Messrs.  Mon 
roe  and  Pinkney  to  consent  to  an  article  by  which  each  of  the 
two  nations  should  engage,  in  time  of  war,  not  to  employ  on  the 
high  seas,  on  board  of  their  vessels,  any  seaman  not  being  its  own 
citizen  or  subject  and  being  a  citizen  or  subject  of  the  other,  and 
who  should  not  have  been  for  two  years  constantly  and  voluntarily 
in  its  service  or  within  its  jurisdiction. 

It  is  probable  that  this  proposition,  with  such  modifications  as 
England  might  have  desired,  would  have  led  to  a  final  arrange 
ment  suitable  to  both  nations.  But  it  was  never  formally  oifered 
or  discussed.  The  British  government,  grounding  their  refusal 
upon  the  rejection  of  the  treaty  by  the  President, 

.      .  ™,  /23d  June,  1807. 

refused   to  resume  the   negotiations.      The   attack 

upon  the  American  frigate  the  "  Chesapeake,"  which  happened 


558  WRITINGS    OF     GALLAT'IN.  1813. 

the  same  year,  and  the  interdict  upon  the  American  commerce 
known  by  the  name  of  the  orders  in  council,  which  immediately 
followed,  produced  exasperation  and  reciprocal  recriminations, 
and  arrested  the  negotiations  upon  all  the  other  points.  It  will 
suffice  to  observe  that  a  fruitless  effort  was  made  to  induce 
England  to  connect  the  discussion  upon  the  subject  of  impress 
ment  with  that  upon  the  affair  of  the  Chesapeake,  and  that 
notwithstanding  the  tenor  of  the  note  of  8th  November,  1806, 
above  cited,  and  the  reclamations  which  the  ministers  and 
officers  of  government  of  the  United  States  have  never  ceased 
to  make,  the  abuses  had  not  diminished,  and  the  impressment 
of  American  seamen  continued  without  interruption  until  the 
declaration  of  war. 

After   that   declaration  the  President  of  the  United  States 
authorized  Mr.  Russell,  their  last  charge"  d'af- 

V.  Mr.  Kussell's  letter 

to  Lord  castiereagh,  of  faires  at  London,  to  propose  to  the  British 
2'  N°'  government  an  armistice,  on  condition  that  the 
orders  in  council  should  be  revoked,  and  that 
the  practice  of  impressment  on  board  of  American  vessels  should 
cease,  promising  that  in  that  case  the  American  government 
would  enact  a  law  (to  be  reciprocal)  forbidding  the  employment 
of  English  seamen  on  board  of  American  vessels,  whether  public 
or  private.  This  proposal,  which  was  presented  in  two  different 
v.  Lord  castiereagh's  f°rms,  was  rejected,  on  the  ground  that  Mr. 
answer,  29th  August,  Russell  had  not  sufficient  powers  to  negotiate, 

1812,  No.  3,  p.  35  to  37.  ,  .    ,.        , 

and  especially  because  the  American  govern 
ment  demanded  of  England  as  a  preliminary  condition  the 
abandonment  of  her  ancient  custom  of  impressing  British  sailors 
on  board  of  American  vessels,  without  giving  her  any  security 
other  than  a  simple  assurance  that  America  would  afterwards 
enact  a  law  prohibiting  the  employment  of  British  seamen  on 
board  of  her  vessels.  Lord  Castiereagh  closed  his  answer  in 
the  following  manner : 

''  The  British  government  now,  as  heretofore,  is  ready  to  receive 
from  the  government  of  the  United  States,  and  amicably  to  dis 
cuss,  any  proposition  which  professes  to  have  in  view  either  to 
check  abuse  in  the  exercise  of  the  practice  of  impressment,  or  to 
accomplish  by  means  less  liable  to  vexation  the  object  for  which 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  559 

impressment  has  hitherto  been  found  necessary ;  but  they  cannot 
consent  to  suspend  the  exercise  of  a  right  upon  which  the  i^aval 
strength  of  the  Piiipire_^iamlydepends7  until  they  are  fully  con 
vinced  that  means  can  be  devisecTTand  will  be  a< 
the  object  to  be~obtained  by  the~exercise  of  that  right  can  be 
effectually_se_cured ." 

We  shall  not  dwell  upon  the  remainder  of  the  correspond 
ence  between  Mr.  Russell  and  Lord  Castlereagh,  which 
has  no  immediate  relation  to  the  subject  of  impressment. 
But  it  may  be  necessary  to  observe  that  the  British  government 
had  on  their  part  authorized  Admiral  Warren  to  v  Admlral  warren's 
make  a  proposal  of  peace  to  the  government  of  letter,  soth  sej.t.,  isi-2, 

.  1       TT    .       -,    0  /*  i     i  -i  ,•  a"d  Mr.  Monroe's  an- 

the  United  States,  founded  upon  the  revocation  gwerj  27th  Oct.,  1812, 
of  the  orders  in  council,  which  was  not  known  NO.  3,  p.  39  to  45. 
in  America  when  the  war  was  declared.  Admiral  Warren  having 
no  authority  to  treat  on  the  subject  of  impressment,  and  his 
proposition  being  merely  that  in  consideration  of  the  repeal  of 
the  orders  in  council  there  should  be  a  suspension  of  hostilities, 
and  that  the  United  States  should  repeal  the  law  prohibiting  the 
importation  of  British  merchandise,  this  proposition  was  rejected 
by  the  American  government. 

Animated  by  the  constant  desire  of  removing  beforehand  the 
obstacles  which  might  impede  the  restoration  of  peace,  the  United 
States  shortly  afterwards  enacted  a  law  by  which,  v.  the  law  of  3d  March, 
from  the  expiration  of  the  present  war,  the  em-  1813>  No>  5> 
ployment  of  every  person  not  being  a  citizen  of  the  United  States 
on  board  of  American  vessels,  whether  public  or  private,  is  pro 
hibited,  and  which,  by  requiring  a  continual  residence  of  five 
years  without  going  out  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  as 
an  indispensable  preliminary  to  naturalization,  actually  excludes 
from  that  right  all  foreign  seamen  not  already  naturalized.  The 
number  of  these  is  too  inconsiderable  to  present  any  real  cause 
of  difficulty. 

Finally,  the  offer  of  mediation  made  by  his  Imperial  Majesty 
the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias  having  been  received  by  the 
United  States  immediately  after  the  adoption  of  this  law,  the 
President  accepted  it  without  hesitation,  and  immediately  de 
spatched  to  St.  Petersburg  an  extraordinary  mission,  with  full 


560  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 

powers  to  conclude  a  treaty  of  peace  with  Great  Britain  under 
the  mediation  of  his  Imperial  Majesty. 

From  this  statement  of  facts,  the  hope  may  reasonably  be 
entertained  that  England  can  have  no  fair  objection  to  open  a 
negotiation,  and  that  its  issue  would  be  favorable.  A  few  ob 
servations  in  this  respect  are  submitted,  with  a  view  to  avert 
the  preliminary  difficulties  which  might  arise. 

1.  England  has  never  refused  to  negotiate  upon  the  principle 
now  proposed.     On  the  contrary,  she  has  always  declared,  and 
particularly  in  August   last  in  the  above-cited   note  of  Lord 
Castlereagh,  that  the  British  government  was  ready  to  discuss 
any  proposition  which  should  substitute  instead  of  impressment 
any  method  equally  efficacious,  but  less  liable  to  vexation. 

2.  The  proposition  now  intended  by  the  American  govern 
ment  to  be  made  has  never  been  rejected,  nor  even  discussed. 
All  those  which  have  hitherto  been  considered  as  insufficient  had 
for  basis  only  the  mutual  restitution  of  seamen  who  had  deserted 
from  some  public  vessel ;  whereas  this  consists  in  excluding  from 
American  vessels  British  subjects  whether  deserters  or  not,     The 
last  oifer  which  Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney  had  been  author 
ized  to  make  in  May,  1807,  was  modified  in  a  manner  which 
might  not  have  been  satisfactory ;  and  circumstances  distinct 
from  it  prevented  even  its  being  discussed.     The  proposal  made 
by  Mr.  Russell  was  rejected  not  because  an  arrangement  founded 
on  his  proposition  was  considered  as  inadmissible,  but  because  it 
was  presented  as  a  preliminary  condition,  and  for  the  reasons 
already  mentioned. 

3.  The  law  of  3d  March  is  to  be  considered  only  as  indicating 
the  basis  upon  which  the  United  States  believe  it  possible  to 
treat  with  success.     The  general  principle  adopted  in  it,  of  ex 
cluding  British  seamen  from  American  vessels,  is  alone  to  be 
considered.     The  means  by  which  this  principle  would  be  car 
ried  into  effect  by  the  law  are  those  which  the  United  States, 
without  having  consulted  England,  judged  sufficiently  effica 
cious.     But  it  was  foreseen  that  a  treaty  which  might  have  the 
v.  the  law,  sec.  21,    concurrence  of  two  independent  powers  might 

require  other  modifications;   and  a  clause  was 
inserted  in  the  law  itself,  providing  that  nothing  contained  in 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  561 

it  should  prevent  an  arrangement  concluded  by  treaty  between 
the  United  States  and  any  foreign  nation. 

Without  entering  at  present  into  further  details,  it  will  merely 
be  observed  that  the  object  in  view  may  be  attained  either  by 
restricting,  as  the  law  proposes,  the  admission  of  foreign  seamen 
to  the  rights  of  American  citizens,  or  by  excluding  from  Amer 
ican  vessels  not  only  British  subjects  not  naturalized  in  Amer 
ica  (as  the  law  likewise  proposes),  but  even  all  British  subjects 
who  may  be  naturalized  hereafter.  It  may  be  said  in  general 
terms  that  every  modification  will  be  admitted,  necessary  for  the 
satisfaction  of  Great  Britain  and  compatible  with  the  rights  of 
sovereignty  and  the  national  honor. 

4.  Great  Britain  claims  only  her  own  subjects.  America  con 
sents  to  exclude  British  subjects  from  her  vessels.  Being  agreed 
upon  the  principal  point,  an  arrangement  appears  to  be  practi 
cable  without  affecting  the  respective  rights  of  the  two  nations, 
and  in  a  manner  which,  discarding  the  vexations  and  outrages 
upon  the  Americans,  will  at  the  same  time  be  more  advantageous 
to  Great  Britain  than  the  violent  means  of  impressment  which 
she  has  hitherto  employed. 

As  to  the  question  of  abstract  rights,  America  does  not  ask 
of  England  to  abandon  any  of  those  maritime  rights  which  she 
has  or  believes  herself  to  have.  England,  on  her  side,  cannot 
demand  that  America  should  abandon  hers,  as  she  necessarily 
must  should  she  subscribe  to  the  practice  of  impressment, 
whereas  nothing  is  asked  of  England  but  to  abstain,  for  an 
equivalent,  from  the  exercise  of  a  right  which  she  says  she  has, 
but  without  abandoning  it.  It  would  besides  be  easy  to  insert 
an  article  in  the  treaty  expressly  declaring  that  the  arrange 
ment  is  merely  conventional,  without  affecting  in  any  manner 
the  respective  rights  of  the  two  nations. 

It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the  measure  proposed  by  the  United 
States  would  be  more  effectual  than  that  of  impressment,  and 
would  restore  to  England  a  number  of  English  seamen  much 
more  considerable  than  she  now  seizes  by  force.  By  impress 
ment  she  can  only  recover  a  part,  while  America  consents  to 
exclude  from  her  service  the  whole.  England  can,  therefore, 
allege  no  objection  but  the  fear  that  the  United  States  would 
VOL.  i. — 37 


562  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

not  fulfil  their  engagement.  By  the  importance  which  they 
attach  to  the  redemption  of  their  seamen  from  the  danger  of 
British  impressment  a  judgment  may  be  formed  of  the  interest 
they  will  have  scrupulously  to  execute  a  stipulation  upon  which 
would  depend  the  security  of  those  seamen  and  the  continuance 
of  peace.  If,  however,  England  should  still  harbor  doubts  on 
this  subject,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the  proposed  arrange 
ment  having  reserved  the  respective  rights  of  the  two  nations, 
being  purely  conditional  and  even  limitable  in  duration,  may  be 
considered  as  an  experiment  which  will  bind  the  British  govern 
ment  only  so  far  and  so  long  as  America  shall  fulfil  on  her  part 
the  conditions  to  which  she  will  have  assented.  England,  there 
fore,  not  only  cedes  no  right,  real  or  pretended,  but  will  even 
hazard  nothing  by  abstaining  from  her  pretension.  For,  how 
ever  ill  founded  this  may  appear  to  the  United  States,  the  settle 
ment  being  conditional  and  the  engagements  mutual,  from  the 
instant  that  America  should  fail  to  perform  hers,  that  of  England 
would  cease  to  be  binding  upon  her ;  and  her  right  of  impressment, 
though  always  contested,  will  certainly  then  be  as  lawful  as  it 
could  have  been  before  she  acceded  to  the  proposed  arrangement. 
This  note  having  no  other  object  than  to  exhibit  in  a  general 
manner  the  facts  and  the  views  of  the  American  government, 
all  discussion  of  the  question  of  right  has  been  purposely  avoided 
in  it.  The  silence  which,  from  respect  for  the  character  of  im 
partiality  of  the  power  wThich  has  offered  its  mediation,  has  been 
observed  with  regard  to  this  question,  cannot  be  considered  as  an 
abandonment  of  the  principles  which  the  United  States  have 
always  maintained.  We  shall  always  be  ready,  should  the  occa 
sion  require  it,  to  develop  those  principles,  and  to  demonstrate  the 
futility  of  the  arguments  by  which  England  has  endeavored  to 
support  her  pretension  and  to  justify  her  conduct. 


MOREAU   TO   GALLATIN. 

[21st  August,  1813.] 

MON  CHER  MONSIEUR  GALLATIN, — Me  voiLa  de  nouveau  a 
1'armee,  pret  a  combattre  Bonaparte  et  le  faisant,  je  vous  Fassure, 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  553 

sans  la  moindre  repugnance,  bien  convaincu  que  si  dans  ma  petite 
capacity  je  puis  contribuer  a  sa  chute,  je  recevrai  aussi  ma  part 
de  remerciements  de  la  France  et  du  monde  entier :  peu  importe 
la  banniere  quand  on  r6ussit.  Si  Robespierre  avait  6t£  tue"  par 
les  Royalistes,  les  Republicans  les  en  auraient  remercie"  24  heures 
apr£s. 

J'ai  appris  avec  bien  du  chagrin  que  votre  mission  n'aurait  pas 
le  re"sultat  que  nous  nous  6tions  tous  promis,  malgre"  la  puissante 
mediation  de  S.  M.  Impe'riale.  Les  Anglais  ne  veulent  pas  trai- 
ter  de  leurs  droits  maritimes  sous  aucune  mediation.  Yoila  ce 
que  m'a  dit  un  de  leurs  ministres  en  Allemagne. 

Quoique  je  n'ai  pas  Fhonneur  d'etre  Americain,  je  m'int6resse 
bien  sincerement  au  sort  d'un  pays  ou  j'ai  reste"  si  longtemps  et  oil 
j'ai  reyu  tant  de  marques  d'amitie.  Je  ne  suis  pas  aveugle  sur  la 
position  actuelle  de  ce  pays,  mais  j'aurai  toujours  de  la  partialite" 
pour  lui.  Je  m'interesserai  toujours  a  son  bonheur  et  a  ses  succes. 

Le  refus  du  gouvernement  anglais  doit  vous  mettre  dans  une 
situation  tres-desagre"able. 

Je  vois  d'ici  les  Federalistes  exageres  rire  des  maux  de  leur 
pays  par  Fespoir  de  voir  le  triomphe  de  leur  parti,  et  les  exageres 
du  parti  contraire  en  profiter  centre  vous  et  le  President;  car  il 
ne  faut  pas  vous  en  flatter,  quelque  m^contentement  que  le  refus 
des  Anglais  de  traiter  en  Russie  puisse  occasionner,  la  guerre  ne 
sera  pas  nationale;  il  y  a  trop  d'egoi'sme,  trop  de  richesse  dans 
toutes  les  classes,  et  pas  assez  d'argent  dans  les  caisses  de  l'6tat, 
pour  qu'on  puisse  esp6rer  un  mouvement  assez  vigoureux  de  la 
nation  qui  la  mette  dans  une  attitude  imposante. 

Les  Anglais  veulent,  dit-on,  traiter  de  la  paix  sans  mediation. 
Je  le  crois,  mais  il  est  a  craindre  que  la  vanit6  americaine  n'accede 
pas  sur-le-champ  &  cette  fa£on  de  faire,  et  que  les  malheurs  de 
cette  guerre  continuent  encore  quelque  temps.  S'il  nV  a  pas  de 
commotion  interieure,  ce  ne  sera  qu'une  perte  d'argent,  et  la  dur^e 
de  la  guerre  aura  pour  les  Anglais  un  grand  desavantage,  celui 
de  vous  apprendre  de  vous  passer  d'eux. 

Le  pire  sera  1'a vantage  que  vos  ennemis  particuliers  et  ceux  du 
President  en  tireront  pour  vous  nuire,  vous  accuser  de  precipita 
tion  dans  Penvoi  de  ministres  avant  de  vous  etre  assures  de  Fac- 
cession  de  FAngleterre.  II  est  beau  de  commettre  de  pareilles 


564  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

erreurs.  L'empressement  de  faire  cesser  les  maux  de  la  guerre 
peut  Sprouver  la  censure  de  la  politique,  mais  certes  il  meritera 
a  celui  qui  la  montre  1'approbation  des  amis  de  Fhumanit^. 

Je  desirerais  bien  recevoir  de  vos  nouvelles  avant  votre  retour 
en  Am6rique.  S.  M.  Imperiale,  riiomme  le  plus  humain  et  le 
plus  honnete  que  je  connaisse,  me  comble  d'amitie.  II  s'inte'resse 
aux  AmSricains  et  sera  toujours  pret,  j'en  suis  stir,  a  user  de 
toute  son  influence  pour  leur  procurer  la  paix.-  Si  je  pouvais 
vous  6tre  bon  a  quelque  chose  on  pour  votre  mission  ou  pour 
vous-meme,  veuillez  disposer  de  moi  et  croire  aux  sentiments  de 
la  consideration  la  plus  distingue"e  avec  laquelle  je  suis 

Votre  tres-humble  et  tres-obeissant  serviteur. 

Au  Quartier-General  Imperial,  Hrushova,  21  aout,  1813. 


GALLATIN  TO  ALEXANDER  BARING. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  27th  August,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  letter  (of  22d  July)  with  which  you  have 
favored  me  was  received  on  the  17th  inst.  For  this  I  return 
you  my  sincere  thanks,  and  duly  appreciate  the  importance  of 
the  information  you  have  obtained,  and  the  motives  which  have 
actuated  you.  Although  I 'cannot  write  as  freely  as  a  person 
whose  communications  do  not  commit  his  own  government,  the 
hope  that  our  correspondence  may  be  of  some  public  utility 
induces  me  to  enter  as  far  in  the  subject  as  is  consistent  with 
my  situation. 

i        We  have  not  received,  as  you  had  suggested,  the  information 
I  that  the  mediation  of  Russia  had  been  refused  by  Great  Britain, 
\  with  expressions  of  a  desire  to  treat  with  us  separately  and 
directly  at  London  or  at  Gottenburg.     It  is  possible  that  Lord 
Wai  pole,  who  is  said  here  to  have  gone  to  the  Emperor's  head 
quarters,  may  be  the  bearer  of  that  communication.     We  have 
I    in  the  mean  while  been  notified  that  the  Emperor  had,  on  the 
/     arrival  of  our  mission,  given  orders  that  his  offer  of  mediation 
should  be  renewed ;  and  we  will  wait  here  the  result.     But  if 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  565 

your  government  should,  after  due^  consideration,  persist  in  jts 

with  us  cannot  be 


opened,  since_our  powers  in  that  respect  are  to  treat  of  peace 
with  Gre&t  Britain  exptesly  uudemfae  mediation  of  Russia> 
We  have  a  distinct  commission  to  treat  afterwards  of  commerce, 
if  agreeable  to  your  government,  and  without  reference  to  any 
mediation.  This  was  alluded  to  by  the  President  of  the  United 
States  in  his  last  message,  and  is  now  mentioned  as  an  evidence 
of  his  sincere  desire  not  only  to  make  peace,  but  to  establish  the 
relations  between  the  two  countries  on  the  most  friendly  footing. 
It  does  not  belong  to  me  to  discuss  the  objections  which  your 
government  may  have  to  treat  of  peace  under  the  mediation  of 
Russia  ;  but  we  were  altogetherjinaware,  when  we  left  America, 
that  any  such  could  exigt.  Russia  had  an  interest  in  the  restora 
tion  of  peace  between  the  two  countries,  since  the  war  interrupted 
her  p/immprfj^rfilatioiijLgdth  Amprjf^jarid  diverted  acerfanT 
portion  of  the  British  force  from  the  important  object  of  j5uTO=~ 
peajijwarfare.  In  The  terms  on  which  peace  should  be  made, 
in  the  essential  point  at  issue,  —  a  point  which,  as  you  suggest, 
could  not  in  practice  arise  with  respect  to  her,  —  she  had  no 
immediate  interest.  In  those  respects  she  united  therefore  the 
essential  requisites  in  a  mediating  power,  a  sincere  wish  that 
peace  might  be  made,  and  impartiality  as  to  the  subjects  of  dis 
pute.  On  the  other  hand,  with  Russia  we  had  only  friendly 
and  commercial  relations,  but  no  political  connection.  You  had 
also  with  her  relations  of  the  same  nature  with  ours  and  on 
a  much  more  extensive  scale.  And  you  had  at  the  same  time 
an  intimate  political  connection,  necessarily  arising  from  your 
being  united  in  a  most  important  conflict  against  a  formidable 
common  enemy.  You  are  her  ally  in  a  war  which  to  her  is  an 
object  of  so  much  superior  importance  to  the  interest  she  has  in 
the  restoration  of  peace  between  you  and  us,  that  America  might 
have  hesitated  to  accept  her  mediation  had  it  not  been  for  the 
great  confidence  we  place  in  the  personal  character  of  the  Em 
peror.  This  we  considered  a  sufficient  pledge  of  impartiality  ; 
and,  certain  that  your  government  at  least  in  that  respect  enter 
tained  sentiments  similar  to  ours,  we  did  not  pre^uppese^thalL-if- 
the  mediation  was  accepted  by_usther^Ij5caild-be"-aiiy  hesitation 


566  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

on  the  subject  on  thepart  of  Great  JBritain^iuiless  she-eewsidered 
peace  as,  at  all  events  at  this  mome^t^ej^herjnipracticable  or  un- 
desiraRe^  We.  dldjlso_believe  that  our  acceptTng"as  a  mediator 
a  sovereign  at  war  with  France  was  such  a  clear  evidence  of  our 

nprFBpr  hny^n^'n^flAnfiTiinor  to  hnvfi  flj)yjToJvHcH  1  connection_with 

thisjast  power,  that  it  must  remove  those  suspicions  on  the  part 
of  your  government  to  which  you  allude,  and  which,  although 
altogether  erroneous  and  destitute  of  foundation,  might  probably 
continue  to  have  an  unfavorable  effect  on  its  dispositions  and 
determination. 

Such  was  the  view  of  the  subject  under  which  our  govern 
ment  acted  in  the  appointment  of  the  extraordinary  mission;  and 
you  must  at  once  perceive  that  ifji  rejection_pf  the  mediation  on 
the  part  of  Great  Britain  had  been  an  tjcigatedjjile  jresul  t  won  1  d 
have  been,  noTaTJTj^  that  jmntcy  for  which  there 

was  no  preliminary  foundation,  but  merely  a  declaration  that  the 
United  States  accepted  the  mediation,  and  would  be  ready  to  act 
upon  it  whenever  it  was  accepted  by  Great  Britain. 

It  will  be  a  matter  of  regret  if  this  frank  proceeding  on  the 
part  of  America,  this  effort  to  re-establish  peace  in  an  honorable 
manner  and  without  suing  for  it,  should,  on  the  threshold,  be 
defeated  by  the  absolute  refusal  of  your  government  of  the 
offered  mediation.  Without  at  all  entering  in  a  discussion  of 
the  objections  they  have  to  that  measure,  still,  so  far  as  those 
objections  are  exhibited  in  your  letter  the^vdp  not  appear  to  me 
to  go  beyond  a  belief  .that  a  direct^negotiation  would  afford  a 
success  than  one  conducte3lim3S^ 

This  may  be  true;  but  as  it  does  not, 


however,  seem  necessarily  tcTimply  that  the  attempt  to  negotiate 
under  a  mediation  may  not  under  certain  circumstances  be  made, 
or  that  a  mediation,  where  America  is  concerned,  is  at  all  events 
and  in  itself  inadmissible,  I  still  indulge  the  hope  that  your 
government,  finding  that  a  rejection  of  the  mediation  is,  so  far 
as  this  mission  is  concerned,  a  refusal  to  negotiate,  and  placing 
that  confidence  in  the  sincerity  of  our  dispositions  and  views  to 
which  we  feel  ourselves  entitled,  will,  on  a  due  consideration  of 
the  subject,  find  it  practicable  to  reconcile  an  acceptance  of  the 
mediation  with  their  views  and  principles. 


1813.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  5(57 

With  respect  to  the  main  question,  the  probability  of  an 
arrangement,  you  are  sensible  that  I  cannot  at  this  time  and 
on  this  occasion  enter  into  details.  That  I  would  not  have 
given  up  my  political  existence  and  separated  myself  from  my 
family  unless  I  had  believed  an  arrangement  practicable  and 
that  I  might  be  of  some  utility  in  effecting  it,  you  are  suf 
ficiently  aware.  The  law  to  which  you  allude  is  a  municipal 
regulation,  which  may,  however,  be  considered  as  a  primary 
evidence  of  the  general  disposition  of  the  American  government 
to  advance  towards  a  compromise.  On  that  subject  I  could  not 
be  more  explicit  without  in  fact  entering  into  the  negotiation 
itself.  I  will  only  state  that,  however  desirable  it  might  be  to 
define  with  precision  and  in  a  permanent  manner  the  respective 
rights  of  the  two  countries  on  the  subject  of  impressment,  I  do 
not  hope  that  this  can  be  effected  at  this  time,  or  that  either 
nation  can  be  induced  to  abandon  its  rights  or  pretensions  in 
that  respect.  All  that,  in  my  opinion,  can  be  done  is  an  arrange 
ment,  by  way  of  experimenE 
their  respective  abstractrigh  ts  real  or  assumed,  shall  be  founded 
on  mutual  engagementsTrPsuch  ^manner  {hat  the  failure  of  either 
nation  to_Jul  ilLheren  gagement  .shall  absolve  the  other  nation 
from  her  own  and  leave  her  in  as  full  exercise  of  her  rights 
and  pre^ensiong_as..if  the  arrangement  had  not  been  made. 

I  have  thus  freely  communicated  as  far  as  our  relative  situa 
tion  seemed  to  permit,  being  well  assured  that  what  I  have  said 
will  be  used  for  its  intended  purpose  of  assisting  in  promoting 
a  restoration  of  peace.  I  know  how  dear  this  object  is  to  you, 
and  that  we  both  have  an  equal  desire  that  not  only  peace  but 
the  most  friendly  relations  and  understanding  should  subsist 
between  the  two  countries.  I  can  assure  you  that  such  also  is 
the  sincere  and  earnest  desire  of  my  government,  and  that 
nothing  which  can  be  done  in  that  respect  will  be  omitted  on 
my  part  or  on  that  of  my  colleagues.  Whatever  the  result  may 
be,  I  will  preserve  a  just  sense  of  your  friendly  conduct  on  this 
occasion,  and  remain  with  great  consideration  and  sincere  regard, 
dear  sir,  your  very  obedient  servant. 


568  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1813 


GALLATIN   TO  MONROE. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  28th  August,  1813. 

DEAR  Sm, — On  our  arrival  at  Gottenburg  I  wrote  to  Mr. 
Baring  that  we  were  thus  far  on  our  way  to  St.  Petersburg, 
having  been  appointed  with  full  powers  to  treat  of  peace  with 
Great  Britain  under  the  mediation  of  Russia ;  and  after  inform 
ing  him  that  we  had  a  credit  on  him  for  the  expenses  of  our 
mission,  and  asking  information  respecting  the  most  eligible 
mode  of  drawing  for  them,  I  requested  that  the  fact  of  our 
arrival  might  be  made  known  to  the  British  government.  I 
had  no  pJ^iexjahJ£cJJ^n_J^  delays,  and  if  that  govern 

ment  was  only  waiting  to  know  the  determination  of  ours  on 
the  mediation,  to  enable  them,  if  they  were  so  disposed,  to 
appoint  immediately  ministers  on  their  part.  This,  however, 
has  given  rise  to  an  important  communication  on  the  part  of 
Mr.  Baring,  a  copy  of  which,  as  well  as  of  my  answer,  I  now 
enclose.  You  will  easily  distinguish  in  his  letter  what  belongs 
to  him  and  what  in  fact  is  an  indirect  communication  through 
him  of  the  views  and  dispositions  of  his  government.  And  this 
will  assist  you  both  in  forming  a  correct  opinion  of  the  probable 
result  of  our  mission  and  of  the  prospect  of  peace  in  any  way, 
and  in  deciding  whether  any  new  powers  or  instructions  are 
wanted  and  proper  or  not.  The  question  which  I  think  you 
will  have  to  decide  in  case  Great  Britain  should  persist  in  her 
refusal  ot  thejnediation,  and  either  through  this  government  or 
otherwise  a  positive  invitation  jhouJdJ3fi--iQadfi,tc>.,open  a  direct 
negotiation,  is  whether  this  should  be  acceded  to.  I  will  not  at 
thiy  time  add  any  conjectures  or  opimons^of  m^  own,  not  only 
because  they  might  not  be  very  useful,  but  also  because  having 
no  cipher  here  but  one  which  has  been  used  for  several  years  in 
England  and  elsewhere,  it  is  highly  probable  that  it  is  known ; 
and  Ij3an  communicatejiothing  but  what  may  meet  the  eye  of 
the_enemy.  I  insure,  indeedTgreater  safety  ~to  this  communica 
tion  by  putting  nothing  in  it  but  what  the  British  government 
wishes  you  to  see,  and  in  point  of  fact  I  would  have  little  to  say 
which  you  might  not  infer  from  this  and  our  joint  despatch. 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  569 

I  need  hardly  add  that  neither  Mr.  Baring's  nor  my  letter 
are  intended  for  publication  or  even  communication  to  Congress. 

I  remain,  &c. 

Private  P.S.  15th  October,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — Frpm  the  date  of  the  above  letter,  no  intimation 
such  as  was  suggested  by  Mr.  Baring  has  reached  us.  Why, 
if  there  was  no  such  intention,  he  was  directed  to  give  us  that 
information,  or  why,  if  his  government  was  sincere,  the  propo 
sition  has  not  been  made,  I  cannot  conjecture.  Considering  the 
distance  and  the  ordinary  course  of  the  mail,  an  answer  to  the 
renewed  offer  of  mediation  through  Count  Lieven  cannot  be 
expected  here  before  the  1st  of  November ;  and  it  may  be  de 
layed  longer  if  the  object  of  the  British  government  be  to  gain 
time.  If  the  mediation  be  either  accepted  or  absolutely  refused, 
our  course  will  be  plain.  But  if  the  answer  be  of  the  nature 
suggested  by  Mr.  Baring,  you  will  recollect  that  even  if  we  were 
of  opinion  that  a  direct  negotiation  would  succeed,  in  conformity 
with  the  views  of  the  President,  still,  our  powers  are  limited  to 
treating  under  the  mediation  of  Russia.  It  is  for  the  President 
to  decide  what  should  be  done  in  that  case ;  and  I  will  only 
observe  that  if  from  any  consideration  whatever  he  shall  think 
proper  to  give  contingent  powers  and  instructions  with  a  view 
to  that  state  of  things,  they  may  reach  us  provided  they  be 
transmitted  immediately.  In  all  probability  we  will  be  detained 
here  by  the  season  till  February,  and  if  no  further  instructions 
shall  reach  us,  and  the  mediation  shall  have  been  rejected,  will 
sail  in  March  from  Gottenburg. 

With  great  respect  and  regard. 


THE   AMERICAN   COMMISSIONERS   TO  JAMES  MONROE. 


ST.  PETERSBURG,    ,        August,  1813. 


SIR,  —  We  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  Mr.  Gallatin 
and  Mr.  Bayard  arrived  at  St.  Petersburg  on  the  21st  ult., 
and  on  the  24th  were  presented  by  Mr.  Adams  to  the  Count 


570  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 

Romanzoff,  Chancellor  of  the  Empire,  and  delivered  to  him  a 
copy  of  the  letters  of  credence  to  Mr.  Adams  and  themselves, 
and  also  of  their  powers  to  treat  of  commerce  with  Russia,  and, 
under  the  mediation  of  his  Imperial  Majesty,  of  peace  with 
Great  Britain.  We  were  informed  that  it  would  be  necessary 
to  transmit  these  papers  to  the  Emperor  at  his  headquarters, 
and  we  find  that  upon  all  occasions  our  official  communications 
will  be  submitted  to  his  Majesty.  We  have  great  cause  to  re 
gret  the  absence  of_the  Emperor  from  his  capital  (and  amongst 
other  reasons),  as  the  distance  from  St.  Petersburg  to  the  Im 
perial  headquarters"  necessarily  su^ec^_jy^e_^perations  jof  the 
m  ission-to^doiay  and  embarrassment^ 

On  the  30th  of  the  month  we  addressed  a  note  to  the  Chan 
cellor — markeJJ^o.JiZ=QJficia^  the  acceptance 
on  the  part  of  the_Umted-^tates  of  the  proS^eTlneHiation  of 
his  Imperial  Majesty,  stating  our  readiness,  in  pursuance  of 
our  powers  under  the  mediation,  to  treat  of  peace  with  Great 
Britain,  and  requesting  information  as  to  the  measures  adopted 
by  the  Russian  and  British  governments  to  give  effect  to  the 
mediation. 

On  the  first  of  August,  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Bayard,  in  an 
interview  with  the  Chancellor,  represented  to  him  the  strong 
impression  of  their  government,  in  immediately  accepting  the 
mediation  of  the  Emperor  and  sending  to  his  Court  a  special 
mission,  that  Great  Britain,  influenced  by  a  consideration  of  the 
relations  subsisting  between  her  and  Russia,  and  of  the  personal 
respect  due  to  his  Imperial  Majesty,  would  not  hesitate  in  ac 
ceding  to  the  mediation;  that  in  this  conviction  no  provision 
was  made  by  their  government  for  a  different  state  of  things ; 
that  their  powers  were  confined  to  a  Russian  mediation,  without 
which  they  could  proceed  to  no  negotiation ;  that  it  was  ex 
tremely  material  for  them  to  be  informed  as  early  as  practicable 
of  the  intentions  of  the  British  government,  especially  in  the 
case  of  its  being  definitely  ascertained  that  Great  Britain  would 
not  act  under  the  mediation ;  in  which  event  their  government 
and  their  country  would  expect  of  them  not  to  protract  a  public 
residence  abroad  from  which  no  beneficial  result  could  be  de 
rived.  The  Count,  in  reply,  stated  that  he  had  been  engaged 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  571 

in  preparing  an  answer  to  the  official  note  which  we  had  sent 
him,  by  which  we  should  find  that  the  British  government,  in  a 
note  addressed  in  the  month  of  ,  1812,  to  Count  Lieven, 

the  Russian  minister  at  London,  after  noticing  in  a  very  civil 
manner  the  friendly  intentions  of  his  Imperial  Majesty  in  offer 
ing  the  mediation,  had  intimated  an  opinion  that  the  acceptance 
of  it  would  be  fruitless,  on  account  of  certain  pretensions  then 
advanced  by  the  American  government.  The  Chancellor  added 
that  for  his  own  part  he  was  not  acquainted  with  the  pretensions 
which  were  referred  to,  but  that  he  wished  information  from  us 
on  the  subject,  and  especially  as  to  the  nature  and  history  of  the 
dispute  on  the  point  of  impressment.  These  were  detailed  in 
conversation,  but  he  requested  they  might  be  put  into  writing, 
not  in  the  shape  of  an  official  note,  but  of  an  informal  memoir. 
He  remarked  that  he  had  heard  of  an  Act  of  the  American 
Congress  relative  to  the  employment  of  foreign  seamen,  the  na 
ture  of  which  he  was  desirous  of  understanding,  and  he  was  in 
consequence  promised  a  copy  of  it.  It  was  thought  material  in 
the  course  of  this  interview  to  put  the  question  distinctly  to  the 
Count  whether,  from  the  terms  or  nature  of  the  answer  which 
Lord  Castlereagh  had  given  to  the  proposition  of  Russian  me 
diation,  it  was  his  opinion  that  the  British  Cabinet  designed 
that  the  Russian  government  should  understand  that  the  media 
tion  could  not  be  accepted.  The  Count  replied  that  whatever 
the  real  intention  might  be,  he  did  not  consider  that  there  was 
anything  in  the  answer  of  the  British  government  which  ought 
to  be  deemed  final,  or  to  preclude  the  government  of  Russia 
from  renewing  the  overture,  even  in  a  more  formal  manner 
than  had  yet  been  done;  and  that  he  had,  on  hearing  of  our 
arrival  at  Gottenburg,  already  written  to  the  Emperor,  whose 
orders  he  was  waiting  on  the  subject.  He  expressed  his  desire 
that  we  should  remain  at  St.  Petersburg  until  further  advices 
were  received  from  Count  Lieven,  and  gave  assurances  at  the 
same  time  that  so  soon  as  the  Russian  government  should  be 
persuaded  that  the  determination  was  formed  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain  not  to  admit  of  the  mediation,  no  time  should  be 
lost  in  communicating  the  fact  to  the  American  ministers. 

On  the  next  day,  the  2d  of  August,  we  received  from  the 


572  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 

Chancellor  an  official  note  bearing  date  the  same  day  (21st  July, 
O.  S.),  communicating  in  substance  the  answer  of  the  British 
government  to  the  offer  of  mediation  made  on  the  part  of  his 
Imperial  Majesty.  A  copy  of  this  note  is  marked  No.  2. 

The  aspect  of  this  answer  did  not  favor  the  expectation  that 
the  mediation  of  Russia  would  be  accepted,  but,  considering  it 
as  addressed  to  the  Russian  government,  wre  thought  it  belonged 
more  to  that  government  than  to  ourselves  to  decide  upon  its 
interpretation,  and  upon  the  ulterior  steps  proper  to  be  taken, 
with  a  view  to  a  more  distinct  and  unequivocal  knowledge  of 
the  intentions  of  the  British  Cabinet. 

On  the  same  day  we  addressed  a  note  to  the  Chancellor,  pro 
posing  the  negotiation  of  a  commercial  treaty  between  the  United 
States  and  Russia.  To  this  note  we  received  an  answer  dated 
the  5th  (24th  July,  O.  S.).  Copies  of  these  notes  are  marked 
Nos.  3  and  4. 

In  an  interview  which  Mr.  Adams  had  with  the  Chancellor 
on  the  10th  instant,  he  informed  Mr.  Adams  that  he  had  just 
received  despatches  from  the  Emperor,  in  answer  to  those  by 
which,  previously  to  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Bay 
ard,  he  had  informed  his  Majesty  of  the  acceptance  of  his  media 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  of  the  appointment 
of  their  extraordinary  mission ;  that  he,  the  Chancellor,  having 
suggested  to  the  consideration  of  the  Emperor  the  expediency  of 
renewing  on  this  occasion  the 'proposal  of  his  mediation  to  the 
British  government,  the  Emperor  had  fully  approved  of  the 
suggestion,  and  commanded  him  to  carry  it  into  effect  according 
to  his  own  idea.  The  Chancellor  added  that  he  should  imme 
diately  prepare  instructions  to  Count  Lieven  in  conformity 
with  his  Majesty's  commands,  and  that,  from  the  authority  now 
given  him,  he  should  feel  himself  justified  in  transmitting  them 
directly  to  the  ambassador  without  previously  sending  them  to 
the  Emperor. 

In  compliance  with  the  desire  which  the  Chancellor  had  ex 
pressed,  to  be  distinctly  and  accurately  informed  by  an  informal 
memoir  of  the  nature  and  history  of  the  controversy  between  the 
United  States  and  Great  Britain  on  the  point  of  impressment,  an 
inofficial  note  was  prepared  on  the  subject,  and  transmitted  on 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  573 

the  14th.  This  note  was  accompanied  by  a  printed  copy  of  the 
Act  of  Congress  of  the  3d  of  March,  1813,  relative  to  the  em 
ployment  of  foreign  seamen,  and  by  copies  of  the  other  public 
documents  to  which  the  note  refers.  A  copy  of  this  memoir 
and  translation  of  it  are  marked  No.  5. 

At  a  subsequent  interview,  on  the  19th  instant,  Mr.  Adams 
having  intimated  again  to  the  Chancellor  the  earnest  desire  of 
Mr.  Gallatin  and  Mr.  Bayard  not  to  be  unnecessarily  detained 
here  without  any  prospect  of  ultimate  success  to  the  negotiation, 
the  Chancellor  again  explicitly  assured  him  that  nothing  had 
been  received  from  the  British  government  Avhich  could  be  con 
sidered  as  a  refusal  to  accept  the  mediation;  that,  on  the  con 
trary,  from  the  tenor  of  the  memoir  which  we  had  transmitted 
to  him,  and  the  nature  of  the  proposals  which  we  were  author 
ized  to  offer,  as  indicated  in  it,  he  had  strong  hopes  not  only 
that  the  British  government  would  accept  the  mediation,  but 
ultimately  would  be  perfectly  satisfied  that  the  negotiation  had 
taken  this  direction. 

We  are  now  officially  informed  that  the  despatches  for  Count 
Lieven  will  be  sent  off  in  the  course  of  one  or  two  days  by  a 
courier,  and  that  a  duplicate  of  them  has  already  been  transmitted 
to  the  Imperial  headquarters. 

If  events  should  render  it  necessary  for  Messrs.  Gallatin  and 
Bayard  to  wait  for  the  answer  which  the  British  Cabinet  may 
give  to  the  renewed  overture  of  Count  Lieven,  they  must  incur 
the  hazard  of  being  detained  in  Russia  during  the  winter,  even 
in  the  case  of  failing  in  the  object  of  their  mission.  But  that 
object  is  deemed  of  so  high  importance  that  they  would  not  feel 
themselves  justified  in  abandoning  the  pursuit  of  it  whilst  the 
remotest  prospect  remained  of  its  being  attainable. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  sir,  your  most 
obedient  servants. 

P.S. — 30th  August.  We  are  this  moment  honored  with  your 
despatch  of  23d  June  last. 

31st  August.  We  enclose  the  copy,  marked  No.  6,  of  a  note 
received  this  day  from  Count  Romanzoff,  and  which  covers  the 
copy  of  a  note  to  be  presented  by  Count  Lieven  to  Lord  Cas- 


574  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 

tlereagh.     We  beg  leave  to  observe  that  these  papers  are  not 
intended  for  publication  in  America. 


GALLATIN   TO   LEVETT   HARRIS. 

ST.  P£TERSBOURG,  jg  Septembre,  1813. 

Mr.  Gallatin  prie  Mr.  Harris  de  te"moigner  en  conversation  & 
Monsieur  le  Comte  de  Romanzoif  combien  il  est  sensible  (ainsi 
que  Mr.  Bayard)  a  la  reception  flatteuse  dont  Mr.  le  Comte  les  a 
honoris  et  aux  marques  de  confiance  qu'il  a  bien  voulu  leur  don- 
ner.  Cette  confiance  est  parfaitement  r£ciproque  de  leur  part  et 
est  la  cause  du  desir  qu'a  Mr.  Gallatin  que  Mr.  Harris  prenne 
F  occasion  de  communiquer  a  Mr.  le  Comte  Finquietude  que  leur 
cause  le  temps  qui  s'est  e"coule  sans  qu'ils  aient  e"te*  accrMites  aupres 
de  FEmpereur.  II  y  a  six  semaines  qu'ils  sont  arrives  et  38  jours 
depuis  qu'ils  out  eu  Fhonneur  de  presenter  a  Mr.  le  Comte  copies 
de  leur  lettre  de  creance  et  pleins  pouvoirs.  Mr.  Gallatin  sent 
parfaitement  que  les  interets  majeurs  qui  occupent  Sa  Majeste 
Imperiale  ne  lui  ont  pas  permis  de  donner  son  attention  a  un 
objet  secondaire ;  et  les  ordres  qu'Elle  a  donnes  d£s  avant  leur 
arrivee  &  St.  Petersbourg,  pour  qu'on  renouvellat  aupres  de 
FAngleterre  Foifre  de  sa  mediation,  ainsi  que  la  communication 
que  Mr.  le  Comte  avait  faite  a  Mr.  Adams  a  Fe"gard  de  la  re"- 
ception  personnelle  de  la  mission,  sont  des  preuves  convaincantes 
des  dispositions  de  Sa  Majeste  et  de  Fintere"t  qu'Elle  continue  de 
prendre  &  FAme"rique. 

Le  gouvernement  des  Etats-Unis  s'etant  repos^  entierement  sur 
Feffet  de  la  mediation  de  Sa  Majeste"  et  n'ayant  pris  aucune  autre 
mesure  pour  preparer  les  voies  au  r^tablissement  de  la  paix,  il 
est  tres-important  pour  le  succes  de  la  mission  que  Finterposition 
de  Sa  Majeste  ait  tout  le  poids  possible  et  a  cet  effet  que  Finter£t 
qu'Elle  prend  a  cette  affaire  et  la  maniere  favorable  dont  Elle 
envisage  la  demarche  de  FAme'rique  et  Fenvoi  d'une  mission  ex 
traordinaire,  soient  bien  compris  par  FAngleterre  et  publique- 
ment  connus.  C'est  principalement  sous  ce  point  de  vue  qu'il 
importe  &  MM.  Gallatin  et  Bayard  d'etre  accr£dite"s  en  plcin  au 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  575 

meTne  moment  que  Foffre  de  la  mediation  se  renouvelle,  et  qu'on 
ne  puisse  pas  supposer  qu'on  hesite  a  cet  egard,  ou  que  la  mis 
sion  est  regarde*e  comme  trop  peu  importante  pour  qu'on  s'en 
occupe. 

Mr.  Harris  pourra  aussi  observer  que  si  le  Lord  Walpole  ar- 
rivant  ici  du  quartier-ge"neral,  ou  il  aura  presente"  sa  lettre  de 
creance,  se  trouve  sur-le-champ,  comme  on  doit  naturellement  s'y 
attendre,  accre"dite"  en  plein  &  St.  Pe"tersbourg  et  presents  dans 
les  formes  comme  ministre  de  FAngleterre,  tandis  que  les  minis- 
tres  ame"ricains,  arrives  deux  mois  auparavant,  continueraient 
dans  une  situation  officielle  Equivoque,  cette  circonstance  aurait 
un  mauvais  effet  et  serait  tres-mortifiante  pour  eux  et  pour  leur 
gouvernement. 

Enfin  il  pourrait  arriver  dans  le  cas  non  impossible  ou  PAn- 
gleterre  rejetterait  Poffre  de  la  mediation,  que  Messrs.  Gallatin  et 
Bayard  seraient  obliges  de  partir  sans  avoir  ete  accredites  en  plein 
et  presentes  comme  ministres,  ou  ne  le  seraient  qu'au  moment  de 
leur  depart ;  ce  qui  ajouterait  un  nouveau  desagrement  au  regret 
et  inconve'niens  d'une  mission  infructueuse. 

Mr.  Harris  aura  soin  de  faire  comprendre  a  Mr.  le  Comte, 
que  Mr.  Gallatin  n'a  personnellement  aucune  pretension,  comme 
individu  n?a  le  droit  de  rien  r^clamer?  et  qu'au  contraire  il  serait 
tres-satisfait  s'il  pouvait  remplir  ses  fonctions  sans  la  moindre 
representation  ;  mais  qu?il  a  extremement  a  coeur  de  remplir  les 
vues  du  President  et  1'attente  de  son  gouvernement,  dont  le  prin 
cipal  motif  en  envoyant  un  de  leurs  membres  (en  opposition  a 
leur  usage  ordinaire)  a  ete  1'esperance  que  cette  demarche  aiderait 
^  reserrer  les  liens  et  a  fortifier  la  bonne  intelligence  entre  les 
deux  gouvernements.  M.  Gallatin  est  fermement  persuade  que 
la  Russie  est  la  seule  puissance  vraiment  amie  de  VAmerique  et  il 
regretterait  extremement  qu'aucune  circonstance  accidentelle  Ii6e 
avec  sa  mission  causat  la  moindre  mortification  a  son  gouverne 
ment,  ou  tendit  &  produire  quelqu'  impression  contraire  a  celles 
qui  existent  deja  a  un  haut  degre  en  Ame"rique.  Le  gouverne 
ment  est  de  la  mdme  opinion  que  M.  Gallatin  a  1'egard  de  la 
Russie  et  particulierement  quant  aux  dispositions  personnelles  de 
Sa  Majest6  Imperiale;  et  1'opinion  publique  quoique  plus  lente- 
ment  suit  la  meme  marche. 


576  WKITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 

M.  le  Comte  de  Roman zoff  peut-il  faire  quelque  chose  de  plus 
que  ce  qu'il  a  fait  pour  hater  la  reception  officielle  de  MM.  Gal- 
latin  et  Bayard  ?  Ou  peuvent-ils  eux-memes  faire,  avec  Favis 
de  M.  le  Comte,  quelque  demarche  a  cet  6gard  ?  Ce  sont  les 
points  sur  lesquels  M.  Harris  tachera  d'obtenir  quelques  lu- 
mi£res ;  et  M.  Gallatin  se  fie  a  sa  discretion  et  au  tact  qu'il  lui 
connait  pour  qu'il  le  fasse  avec  toute  la  d6licatesse  que  Foccasion 
reqniert  et  tout  le  respect  qui  est  du  au  caractere  de  M.  le  Comte, 
a  son  amitie  pour  FAme"rique  et  a  la  maniere  dont,  personnelle- 
ment,  il  a  traite  et  re9U  ses  ministres. 

Mr.  Gallatin  ne  veut  pas  oublier  de  dire  a  Mr.  Harris  que  la 
raison  pour  laquelle  il  le  charge  de  cette  mission,  de  preference 
a  Mr.  Adams,  est  afin  de  lui  oter  tout  caractere  officiel. 


GALLATIN    TO    GENERAL    MOREAU. 

ST.  PETERSBOURG,  2e  Septembre,  1813. 

MON  CHER  GENERAL, — J'avais  deja  appris  avec  plaisir  votre 
heureuse  traversee,  et  vous  m'en  avez  fait  un  tr£s-vif  en  me  mon- 
trant  par  votre  lettre  (du  21  aout)  que  meme  a  Farmee  vous  vous 
souveniez  de  nous  et  preniez  quelqu'  interet  a  notre  'mission  et  & 
moi-meme. 

Quelque  difficiles  que  puissent  ^tre  les  circonstances  ou  vous 
vous  trouverez,  je  connais  toute  la  purete  de  vos  motifs,  et  je  suis 
bien  sur  que  tant  au  moral  qu'au  militaire  vous  soutiendrez  tou- 
jours  le  caractere  du  General  Moreau.  C'est  a  Fambition  dfeor- 
donnSe  de  Bonaparte  et  a  Finsatiable  cupidite  de  FAngleterre 
que  Fon  doit  attribuer  les  maux  qui  desolent  FEurope,  dont 
FAmerique  a  ressenti  le  contrecoup,  et  que  les  traites  de  Lune^- 
ville  et  d'Amiens  auraient  du  prevenir  si  le  monde  etait  gou- 
verne  par  des  Alexandres  et  des  Washingtons;  ce  qui  malheu- 
reusement  n'arrive  que  rarement  et  partiellement.  La  France 
et  FAngleterre,  en  se  faisant  une  guerre  qu'on  dirait  a  toute  ou- 
trance,  en  ont  cependant  fait  tomber  les  plus  grands  fleaux  sur 
les  autres  nations.  Elles  seules  y  ont  gagne  sinon  le  bonheur, 
au  moins  la  puissance.  lAme  avait  usurpe  et  opprimait  la  terre; 


1813.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  577 

Fautre  a  conquis  et  tyrannise  la  mer.  La  Russie  a  enfin  brise 
le  charme  dont  s'etait  entoure  Bonaparte;  et  il  sera  possible  de 
le  resserrer  dans  les  limites  iiaturelles  du  pays  qu'il  gouverne, 
quoique  je  sois  porte  a  croire  qu'aucun  changement  ne  pent  et 
ne  doit  s'ope"rer  en  France  que  par  la  France.  Mais  c'est  la 
paix  seule  qui  peut  faire  renaitre  le  commerce  de  toutes  les 
nations,  reorder  des  marines  et  retablir  Fequilibre  et  la  liberte 
sur  Pocean. 

Je  digresse  an  lieu  de  vous  parler  de  FAmerique,  dont  je 
voulais  vous  entretenir.  Car  sachant  Finteret  que  vous  y 
prenez,  et  croyant  que  vous  pouvez  dans  ce  moment  lui  etre 
tr£s-utile,  je  profite  sur-le-champ  de  Poffre  de  services  que  vous 
me  faites. 

En  attendant  une  pacification  generale,  la  paix  de  PAmerique 
est  utile  aux  autres  et  necessaire  a  elle-m6me.  Sa  guerre  avec 
PAngleterre  fait  quelque  mal  a  tous  et  de  bien  a  personne  ex 
cept^  Bonaparte,  en  faveur  de  qui  elle  opere  une  sorte  de  diver 
sion.  Sa  Majeste  Imperiale  a  vu  d£s  son  origine  que  cette 
guerre  nuisait  au  commerce  de  la  Russie  et  donnait  une  mau- 
vaise  direction  il  une  certaine  partie  des  forces  britanniques.  Et 
ce  motif  joint  a  ses  sentimens  d'humanite  et  &  sa  bienveillance 
pour  FAme"rique  Font  engage  a  oiFrir  sa  mediation  aux  deux 
puissances.  Nous  Favons  accepte  sans  hesiter.  Et  tant  pour 
eviter  les  delais  qu'aurait  produits  la  distance  qui  separe  FAme- 
rique  du  theatre  des  negociations,  que  pour  repondre  d'une  ma- 
ni^re  convenable  &  Foifre  de  FEmpereur,  le  President  a  sur-le- 
champ  exp6die  une  mission  extraordinaire  sans  attendre  de  sa- 
voir  si  FAngleterre  avait  accepte  la  mediation.  L/on  m?a  mis 
du  nombre,  en  partie  peut-etre  parceque  d'apres  les  vues  moderees 
qu'on  me  connaissait,  Fon  m'a  cm  propre  a  cette  negociation, 
mais  surtout  vu  la  place  que  j'occupais  dans  la  nation  et  aupres 
du  President,  pour  donner  a  FEmpereur  tin  leger  temoignage  de 
la  sensibilite  qu'avait  excite  sa  conduite  amicale  pour  les  Etats- 
Unis  et  son  dernier  precede.  Nous  n'avions  point  cependant 
suppose  que  FAngleterre,  lorsque  nous  acceptions,  put  refuser  la 
mediation  de  S.  M.  I.,  d'une  puissance  avec  laquelle  elle  avait 
une  liaison  politique  tres-intime,  qui  etait  son  alli6  contre  un 
ennemi  commun  et  dans  une  guerre  bien  autrement  importante 
VOL.  i.— 38 


578  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

pour  toutes  les  deux  que  les  affaires  de  PAmerique.  Nous  avons 
Ste"  depus  a  cet  egard.  L'Angleterre  repousse  la  mediation.  Est- 
ce  par  orgeuil  ?  Est-ce  par  m6fiance  de  la  Kussie  ?  Est-ce  par- 
ceque  la  suspension  momentanee  de  notre  commerce  lui  donne 
le  monopole  de  celui  du  monde  entier  ?  Je  Fignore;  mais  quant 
&  son  pretexte  de  droits  maritimes  et  aux  autres  raisons  qu'elle 
allegue,  c'est  comme  si  Napoleon  parlait  de  ses  droits  sur  la  terre, 
et  comrae  lorsqu'il  tache  de  persuader  a  chaque  puissance  sepa- 
rSment  qu'elles  sont  toutes  isolees  et  que  nulle  d'elles  ne  pent 
avoir  aucun  int6ret  dans  ses  d6mel6s  avec  les  autres.  D'ail- 
leurs  PEmpereur  avait  offert  sa  mediation  comme  ami  commun  et 
non  pas  comme  arbitre  de  nos  differends  (car  sa  decision  comme 
arbitre  aurait  bien  convenu  a  PAmerique  mais  non  a  FAngle- 
terre).  II  proposait  ses  bons  offices  pour  nous  rapprocher,  et 
que  nous  puissions  sous  ses  auspices  negocier  sans  aigreur  et  avec 
espoir  de  succes.  Je  puis  ajouter  que  pour  le  present  nous  ne 
desirous  point  discuter  ces  droits  pretendus  et  ne  demanderons 
point  a  PAngleterre  qu'elle  les  abandonne.  Tout  ce  que  nous 
voulons  est  un  arrangement  qui  reservant  aux  deux  nations  leurs 
droits  abstraits  respectifs,  substitue  a  la  presse  un  moyen  qui 
n'outrage  pas  notre  pavilion,  qui  donne  s^curite  a  nos  matelots, 
et  qui  cependant  exclue  d'une  maniere  efficace  les  marins  An 
glais  de  notre  service. 

Mais  quelques  soient  les  motifs  de  PAngleterre,  TAm^rique  a 
essentiellement  besoin  de  la  paix.  Jusques  a  ce  que  ses  institu 
tions  et.son  gouvernement  federal  soient  mieux  consolides,  que 
sa  population  soit  plus  concentric,  ses  ressources  plus  muries,  ses 
revenus  mieux  assures,  jusqu^a  ce  qu'elle  ait  par  degres  jette  les 
fondemens  d'un  pouvoir  un  peu  militaire  et  surtout  maritime, 
FAm^rique  ne  peut  probablement  faire  avec  succes  aucune  guerre 
dans  laquelle  elle  ne  serait  pas  envahie,  ou  qui  par  quelqu'autre 
circonstance  ne  sera  pas  parfaitement  nationale.  Vous  avez  bien 
observe  que  la  guerre  actuelle  ne  Test  pas,  et  telle  est  la  situa 
tion  du  pays  et  des  diffe'rens  partis  qui  Fagitent,  que  je  vous 
avouerai  que  je  crains  fort  que  si  notre  mission  est  infructueuse, 
les  £tats-Unis,  apres  avoir  continu^  pendant  quelques  annees  de 
plus  une  guerre  sans  avantage,  ne  fassent  a  la  fin  par  fatigue 
une  paix  defavorable  et  a  laquelle  cependant  FAngleterre  gagne- 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  579 

rait  de  fait  moins  qu'en  la  faisant  a  present,  aux  conditions  ex- 
tremement  moderns  que  nous  sorames  disposes  et  autorise's  d'ac- 
cepter.  Car  une  mauvaise  paix  n'est  jamais  qu'une  treve,  et  tant 
que  F  affaire  de  la  presse  ne  sera  pas  arranged  d'une  maniere  qui 
concilie  les  inte'rets  des  deux  pays,  la  guerre  sera  toujours  pr£te 
a  recommencer  des  qu'on  sera  en  6tat  de  la  faire. 

Nous  avons  done  un  grand  int^ret  a  ce  que  la  mediation  de 
FEmpereur  puisse,  malgre  les  premieres  objections  de  FAngle- 
terre,  £tre  enfin  accepted;  etc'est  a  ce  sujet  particulierement  que 
je  veux  r£voquer  vos  bons  offices.  Nous  avons  toutes  les  rai- 
sons  possibles  de  nous  louer  du  Comte  de  Romanzoff,  qui  a  la 
reception  personnelle  qu'il  nous  a  faite,  a  joint  une  entiere  loyaute" 
dans  tous  ses  precedes  et  le  plus  grand  zele  pour  tacher  de  vain- 
cre  les  difficultes  et  de  donner  effet  aux  vues  de  S.  M.  Cepen- 
dant  cornme  c'est  FEmpereur  qui  doit  en  dernier  ressort  decider 
de  tout  par  lui-meme,  que  vous  avez  Favantage  dont  nous 
sommes  prive's  de  vous  trouver  aupres  de  sa  personne,  qu'au 
milieu  de  ses  grandes  occupations  nous  ne  pouvons  6tre  qu'un 
objet  secondaire  de  son  attention,  que  vous  connaissez  bien  FAm6- 
rique  et  lui  £tes  attach^,  je  crois  qu'il  serait  utile  a  Fobjet  de  notre 
mission,  et  je  vous  prie  de  prendre  quelqu'occasion  de  rappeler 
les  Etats-Unis  au  souvenir  de  S.  M.  et  de  lui  communiquer  com- 
bien  nous  avons  compt6  sur  Feffet  de  sa  mediation  et  de  ses  bons 
offices  pour  nous  rendre  la  paix.  De  fait  je  ne  crois  pas  que 
nous  puissions,  du  moins  &  present,  Fobtenir  autrement:  nos 
pouvoirs  sont  limites  a  traiter  de  la  paix  sous  la  mediation  de  la 
Rassie;  et  ce  ne  sera  qu'avec  le  plus  grand  regret  que  je  perdrai 
toute  esp6rance  de  ce  cote".  Je  suis  fermement  persuade"  que 
dans  les  circonstances  actuelles  la  Russie  est  la  seule  puissance 
vraiment  amie  de  VAmerique.  Et  je  puis  vous  assurer  que  FEm 
pereur  Alexandre  est  le  seul  souverain  en  qui  nous  puissions 
avoir  confiance  et  que  nous  Favons  entierement.  Vons  ignorez 
peut-dtre  qiFindependamment  de  toute  consideration  politique  et 
m£me  du  respect  dti  a  ses  qualites  personnelles  si  rares  dans 
un  monarque  absolu,  il  a  par  une  serie  non  discontinuee  de  bons 
offices  depuis  son  avenement  au  trone  jusqu'a  sa  derniere  de 
marche  a  notre  e*gard,  acquis  des  droits  particuliers  a  la  recon 
naissance  du  gouvernement  et  du  peuple  am^ricain. 


580  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

Vous  sentez  bien  que  nous  ne  sommes  ni  assez  stupides  ni 
assez  injustes  pour  nous  attend  re  ou  pour  soubaiter  que  Sa 
Majeste  presse  son  offre  aupres  de  FAngleterre  au  dela  des 
convenances,  ou  qu'elle  permette  que  Finteret  qu'elle  prend  a 
notre  pacification  porte  le  moindre  prejudice  aux  importantes 
liaisons  politiques  qu'elle  a  avec  FAngleterre.  Mais  d'un  autre 
cote"  FAngleterre  elle-m6me  a  des  motifs  assez  urgents  pour  ne 
pas  desirer  deplaire  a  FEmpereur  sur  un  point  ou  elle  sera  bien 
persuadee  qu'il  met  un  inter^t  personnel.  Et  il  est  possible  qu'on 
puisse  trouver  quelque  moyen  de  le  lui  faire  sentir,  ainsi  que 
quelque  milieu  qui  puisse  se  concilier  avec  ses  objections  ou  les 
ecarter. 

Nous  vous  aurions  et  je  vous  aurais  particulierement  beaucoup 
d'obligation  si  vous  pouviez  representer  le  sujet  sous  ce  point  de 
vue  a  S.  M.  I.  et  me  donner  en  suite  votre  opinion  particuliere 
ment  sur  les  points  suivants.  Est-il  probable  que  FEmpereur 
trouve  convenable  d'ajouter  quelque  chose  a  Foifre  officielle  de 
sa  mediation  qui  vient  d'etre  renouvelee?  !  Y  a-t-il  quelqu'  espoir 
que  FAngleterre  a  la  fin  consente  de  quelque  maniere,  soit  sur-le- 
champ,  soit  dans  le  cours  de  quelques  mois?  Convient-il  que 
nous  attendions  au  risque  d'etre  retenus  en  Europe  tout  Fhiver? 
Ayant  deja  sacrifie  au  besoin  que  mon  pays  a  de  la  paix  et  ii 
Fespoir  d'y  pouvoir  contribuer,  ma  place  et  je  crois  mon  exis 
tence  politique,  je  prolongerai  mon  sejour  si  cela  peut  £tre  utile. 
Hester  sans  espoir  de  rien  faire  serait  mortifiant  tant  pour  mon 
gouvernement  que  pour  moi ;  et  je  desire  rejoindre  ma  famille 
aussi  promptement  que  possible.  Je  desire  cependant  encore 
plus  que  notre  mission,  lors  meme  qu'elle  manquerait  son  objet 
principal,  puisse  contribuer  a  resserrer  les  liens  qui  unissent 
deja  les  deux  pays,  et  qu'elle  ne  laisse  des  deux  cotes  que  des 
impressions  agreables  et  mutuellement  favorables  a  leurs  rela 
tions  amicales.  Cette  consideration  aura  une  influence  decidee 
sur  toute  ma  conduite,  sans  en  excepter  Fepoque  de  mon  depart. 

Vous  voyez  que  vous  vous  etes  attir6  une  bien  longue  lettre,  et 
je  me  reprocherais  de  derober  une  heure  aux  objets  qui  vous  oc- 
cupent  si  je  ne  savais  le  plaisir  qu'une  ame  comme  la  votre  sentira 
en  trouvant  Foccasion  de  pouvoir  etre  utile  au  pays  que  vous 
aviez  choisi  pour  asile.  Je  vous  ai  6crit  sur  certains  objets  avec 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  581 

taut  de  franchise  que  je  clois  vous  prier  qu'a  ^exception  cle  ce 
que  vous  jugerez  convenable  de  communiquer  a  S.  M.  I.,  le 
contenu  de  cette  lettre  ne  soit  connti  de  personne.  Acceptez 
Passurance  du  respect  que  je  porte  a  vos  talens  et  a  vos  vertus, 
et  croyez-moi  avec  la  consideration  la  plus  distinguee,  mon  cher 
general,  votre  tres-humble  et  tres-obe"issant  serviteur. 

La  navigation  de  la  Baltique  est  si  dangereuse  apres  le  ler 
Octobre  que  vous  ajouterez  a  ['obligation  que  je  vous  aurai  en 
me  donnant  les  renseignements  que  je  vous  demande  aussitot 
que  cela  vous  sera  possible. 


W.  H.  CRAWFORD    TO   GALLATIN. 

PARIS,  September  22,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — Within  a  few  days  past  I  have  received  a  letter 
from  General  La  Fayette,  addressed  to  you  respecting  his  lands 
in  Louisiana.  Mr.  Parish  has  informed  him  that  the  patents 
have  been  sent  out  by  the  Neptune.  He  states  that  he  received 
his  information  from  the  President.  The  general  is  particularly 
anxious  to  get  the  patents  for  two  thousand  acres  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  New  Orleans.  I  understand  he  has  made  a  very 
advantageous  sale  of  this  land,  and  that  unless  he  procures  the 
patents  by  the  end  of  the  year  the  contract  will  become  void. 
He  has  applied  to  me  to  certify  that  the  patents  have  issued, 
under  an  expectation  that  such  a  certificate  would  be  satisfac 
tory  to  the  purchaser.  My  knowledge  of  the  fact  is  too  vague 
to  admit  of  my  giving  such  a  certificate.  If  you  have  the 
patents  in  your  possession,  they  may  be  sent  with  perfect  safety 
from  Copenhagen. 

If  they  have  been  issued  but  not  sent,  I  will  thank  you  to 
state  that  fact,  and  particularly  everything  which  relates  to 
the  two  thousand  acres  upon  the  island  of  Orleans,  as  I  am 
solicitous  to  render  him  service  in  this  matter. 

My  situation  here  has  undergone  no  change  since  the  date  of 
my  letter  to  Mr.  Adams,  which  I  presume  he  communicated  to 


582  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 

you.  I  have  received  no  answer  to  the  communications  referred 
to  in  that  letter.  The  operations  of  the  war  will,  no  doubt,  post 
pone  my  public  reception  until  the  winter.  Before  that  time  I 
cannot  expect  to  make  any  considerable  progress  in  the  discussion 
of  the  claim  for  indemnity,  if  indeed  I  ever  do.  I  presume  you 
have  received  as  late  information  from  the  United  States  as  I 
have.  Our  frigate  on  the  lake  was  ready  for  service  on  the 
20th  of  July.  Theirs  had  been  upon  the  lake  at  least  six  weeks 
before,  and  had  put  an  entire  stop  to  our  military  operations. 
Indeed,  there  seems  to  be  so  little  talent  for  command  in  our 
armies,  that  it  requires  no  insurmountable  obstacle  to  stop  their 
advances.  It  is  astonishing  that  they  should  suiFer  themselves 
to  be  surprised  by  an  enemy  who  is  flying  before  them.  The 
capture  of  Chandler  and  Winder,  on  the  6th  of  June,  is  an 
astonishing  event.  Within  twelve  miles  of  the  enemy's  camp 
they  are  surprised  in  the  night  and  taken  prisoners,  although 
the  enemy  is  repulsed.  Since  that  event  they  have  remained  in 
and  about  Fort  George,  acting  on  the  defensive.  The  last  news 
from  the  Western  country  states  that  the  British  and  Indians 
have  again  besieged  Fort  Meigs  in  the  absence  of  Harrison. 
This  man's  talents  must  have  been  greatly  overrated.  He  flatters 
the  Kentuckians,  and  they  tell  the  government  he  ought  to  be 
made  a  major-general,  and  he  is  made  one.  His  official  com 
munications,  stating  the  operations  of  the  siege  of  Fort  Meigs 
during  the  first  days  of  May,  are  the  most  vague  and  puerile 
productions  which  I  have  ever  seen.  Nothing  was  done  during 
that  siege  which  merited  approbation,  and  yet  he  praises  every 
man  and  everything  that  was  done.  If  Leonidas  could  rise 
from  the  dead  and  bestow  the  just  meed  of  praise  upon  his  im 
mortal  band  of  heroes,  it  would  not  exceed  that  which  Harrison 
has  bestowed  upon  his  officers  and  men  in  his  orders  of  the  day 
and  in  his  official  reports  to  the  War  Department.  There  is, 
moreover,  a  total  want  of  perspicuity  in  all  these  reports.  His 
great  desire  to  release  the  Kentucky  prisoners,  amounting  to 
more  than  five  hundred,  induced  him  to  consent  to  a  general 
exchange  of  prisoners,  although  the  number  in  his  possession 
exceeded  that  of  the  Americans  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
From  an  examination  of  his  daily  reports  of  the  siege,  it  does 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  533 

not  appear  that  he  had  made  one  hundred  prisoners.  How,  then, 
could  he  have  more  prisoners  than  the  enemy  ? 

We  shall  never  be  successful  while  our  troops  are  commanded 
by  such  men.  For  God's  sake,  when  you  return,  endeavor  to  rid 
the  army  of  old  women  and  blockheads,  at  least  on  the  general 
staff. 

If  I  knew  you  had  the  means  of  deciphering  a  letter  written 
in  cipher,  I  would  present  you  with  a  full  view  of  the  prospect 
there  is  of  bringing  the  negotiation  with  this  government  to  a 
conclusion;  but,  as  I  am  ignorant  of  this  fact,  I  shall  conclude 
this  letter  by  wishing  you  and  your  colleagues  a  successful  issue 
to  your  ministerial  labors,  and  a  safe  and  speedy  return  to  your 
country  and  friends.  "With  sentiments  of  the  highest  regard,  I 
am,  sir,  yours,  &c. 


GALLATIN   TO  COUNT    ROMANZOFF. 

ST.  PETERSBOURG,  1  Octobre,  1813. 

MONSIEUK  LE  COMTE, —  Le  Major  George  M.  Dallas  qui 
m'avait  accompagne"  en  qualite  de  secretaire,  de"sirant  passer 
quelques  mois  en  Angleterre,  j'ai  cru  devoir  lui  permettre  de 
parti r  sur-le-champ,  parceque  nous  sommes  assez  nombreux  ici 
et  qu'il  nous  sera  plus  utile  &  Londres,  surtout  afin  de  faire  pas 
ser  des  avis  a  notre  gouvernement.  Si,  par  exemple,  le  minis- 
tere  britannique  persistait  dans  son  refus  d'accepter  Poffre  de 
mediation,  et  que  cependant  Pinterposition  de  Sa  Majeste"  Impe*- 
riale  Pengageat  a  proposer  de  bonne  foi  une  negociation  directe 
avec  PAmerique,  il  serait  n6cessaire  d'obtenir  de  nouveaux  pou- 
voirs  du  President  des  £tats-Unis.  Et  Ton  gagnerait  pres  de 
deux  mois  en  lui  Scrivant  en  droiture  de  Londres,  au  lieu  de 
transmettre  ^information  a  St.  Petersbourg  et  d'iei  en  Ame"- 
rique.  Sous  ce  point  de  vue  je  prends  la  liberte"  de  demander  & 
votre  Excellence  si  elle  jugerait  dans  les  convenances  de  donner 
a  M.  Dallas  quelques  lignes  pour  Fintroduire  &  M.  le  Comte  de 
Lieven.  Je  puis  rdpondre  de  sa  discretion  et  de  sa  fidelite'. 

Comme  il  compte  aller  par  terre  a  Gottenbourg  et  qu'il  sera 
porteur  de  nos  d^peches,  je  prie  votre  Excellence  de  vouloir 


584  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

bien  lui  faire  donner  une  passe  de  courier  qui  Fautorise  aussi 
a  prendre  un  domestique  avec  lui  et  a  partir  cette  semaine. 

Je  vous  prie,  M.  le  Comte,  d'agreer  1'assurance  de  ma  sensi- 
bilite"  pour  toutes  vos  bontes,  ainsi  que  celle  de  la  consideration 
tres-distinguee  avec  laquelle,  etc. 


ALEXANDER   BARING   TO    GALLATIN. 

LONDON,  October  12,  1813. 
DEAR  SIR, — The  letter  you  favored  me  with  of  the  ^7^ 

August  reached  me  in  course  of  post,  and  if  I  have  delayed  my 
reply  it  has  not  been,  I  can  assure  you,  from  any  neglect  of  the 
important  subject  of  its  contents.  I  have  been  endeavoring  to 
be  useful  in  an  object  which  I  have  very  much  at  heart.  At 
this  season  of  the  year  those  with  whom  I  wished  to  confer  are 
generally  out  of  town,  and  correspondence  became  necessary. 
In  communicating  to  you  the  result  of  my  endeavors  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  they  have  been  less  successful  than  I  could 
hope  or  than  I  had  at  one  time  expected;  at  the  same  time, 
however,  I  feel  the  more  convinced  that  the  existing  difficul 
ties  are  more  difficulties  of  form  than  of  substance,  and  I  very 
much  misunderstand  the  disposition  on  both  sides  if  an  agree 
ment  were  not  the  result  of  negotiation,  if  that  negotiation 
could  but  once  be  set  on  foot.  In  what  I  communicate  I  beg 
leave  again  to  assure  you  that  you  may  rely  upon  my  not  mis 
leading  you,  and,  without  troubling  you  much  with  the  argu 
ments  that  are  used,  I  shall  confine  myself  principally  to  the 
results,  and  that  the  rather  as  little  time  is  left  me  before  the 
departure  of  the  post,  and  I  wish  that  no  time  may  be  lost.  We 
are  here  resolved  to  abide  by  the  principle  of  direct  negotiation. 
I  had  hoped  that  an  agreement  might  have  been  so  far  advanced 
and  ascertained  that  the  mediation  would  have  been  a  mere 
matter  of  form,  and  in  that  case  it  might  have  been  adopted 
for  the  purpose  of  keeping  your  powers  alive,  and  although  I 
could  of  course  attain  to  nothing  like  certainty  as  to  this  proba- 


1813.  LETTERS,    ETC.  585 

bility  of  agreement,  I  am  still  inclined  to  infer  it  from  the  gen 
eral  expression  of  your  letter  and  from  what  I  have  collected 
here.  Bat  it  has  been  resolved  here  not  to  depart  from  the  first 
resolution  of  entering  only  into  a  direct  negotiation,  and  it  is 
thought  that,  upon  the  whole,  time  will  at  last  be  saved  by  this 
mode,  even  though  it  should  oblige  you  to  have  recourse  to 
America  for  an  alteration  of  your  powers.  The  arguments  used 
by  you  in  favor  of  a  Russian  mediation  are  very  ingenious,  and 
no  inference  of  insincerity  is  drawn  from  America's  adopting 
this  mode,  but  there  are  circumstances  connected  with  the  nature 
of  the  question  which  make  it  ineligible,  when  in  any  common 
political  dissension  it  might  be  the  most  rational  and  satisfactory 
course  to  pursue.  But  whatever  may  be  the  weight  of  argu 
ment  on  either  side,  you  may  be  assured  that  the  determination 
is  here  irrevocable,  and  before  this  reaches  you  it  must  have 
been  communicated  to  you  in  some  authentic  shape.  As  at  the 
same  time  a  readiness  for  direct  negotiation  will  be  declared, 
this  must  save  entirely  any  feelings  of  pride  that  America  may 
entertain,  as  the  advance  for  direct  negotiation  comes  from  hence 
in  return  for  a  step  on  her  part  of  much  less  concession.  What 
you  will  think  proper  to  do  in  this  case — whether  to  wait  for 
new  powers,  to  return  yourselves,  or  to  come  here  in  the  expec 
tation  of  those  powers  being  sent — will  remain  with  you  to 
determine;  perhaps,  indeed,  you  have  determined  before  this 
reaches  you,  as  the  Baltic  will  probably  be  closed  for  navigation 
by  the  end  of  this  month.  The  omission  of  Mr.  Adams's  name 
in  the  passport  was  quite  accidental,  and  must  have  been  my 
fault.  I  have  no  recollection  of  the  circumstance,  but  I  prob 
ably  concluded  at  the  time  that  as  he  was  the  resident  minister 
at  St.  Petersburg  he  would  not  return.  I  trust,  however,  that 
he  will  not  have  hesitated  to  accompany  you  on  account  of  this 
omission,  which  he  may  be  assured  will  be  of  no  consequence, 
and  that  the  vessel,  with  any  person  belonging  to  the  mission, 
will  be  suffered  freely  to  pass  our  fleets. 

On  the  subject  of  the  probability  of  an  agreement  between 
the  two  governments  I  am  sensible  that  you  must  necessarily 
write  with  reserve ;  but,  as  I  am  under  no  such  restraint,  I  will 
state  to  you  fairly  what  you  may  expect  here,  and  I  do  it  because 


586  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

this  may  influence  your  determination  on  other  points,  and  be 
cause  I  always  think  that  between  states,  as  between  individuals, 
where  the  intentions  are  honest,  plain  language  is  always  pref 
erable  to  artifice.  We  wish  for  peace.  The  pressure  of  the  war 
upon  our  commerce  and  manufactures  is  over;  they  have  ample 
relief  in  other  quarters;  and,  indeed,  the  dependence  of  the  two 
countries  on  each  other  was,  as  it  usually  is,  overrated.  But  the 
war  has  no  object ;  it  is  expensive,  and  we  want  to  carry  our 
efforts  elsewhere.  Our  desire  of  peace,  therefore,  cannot  be 
doubted,  and  you  may  quite  rely  upon  it.  With  respect  to  the 
only  question  really  at  issue,  we  are  disposed  to  concert  with 
you  the  most  efficient  means  of  confining  the  seamen  of  each 
country  to  their  respective  services ;  but  we  do  not  believe  in 
the  practicability  of  so  doing  without  a  reservation  of  a  right 
of  search  for  them,  or  rather  without  a  continuation  of  the 
practice,  for  we  do  not  want  from  you  a  recognition  of  right. 
This  practice  we  are  ready  to  regulate  in  any  manner  consistent 
with  its  object,  and  I  feel  an  entire  conviction  that  it  may  be 
regulated  in  a  manner  to  do  away  almost  everything  that  is 
objectionable  in  it.  On  this  point  you  will  find  us  reasonable 
and  liberal,  but  very  firm  upon  the  question  of  not  giving  up 
the  practice  of  examination  and  search,  and  indeed  with  every 
desire  not  only  to  see  peace  restored,  but  to  see  satisfaction  given 
to  America  upon  this  point, — which  I  always  thought  she  had  a 
right  to, — I  cannot  see  how  we  can,  under  our  present  system  of 
manning  our  navy,  do  more.  All  the  Acts  of  Congress  or  Acts 
of  Parliament  that  can  be  framed  would  be  ineffectual  without 
this,  and  I  am  sure  that  when  you  came  to  the  details  you  would 
be  of  the  same  opinion  ;  and  it  is  for  this  reason  that  I  infer  from 
the  cautious  wording  of  your  letter  that  you  would  not  be  dis 
inclined  to  an  arrangement  upon  this  principle,  where  every 
precaution  would  be  taken,  and  taken,  I  think,  effectually,  to 
remove  everything  that  is  vexatious  in  the  present  practice,  and 
to  subject  it  to  the  responsibility  towards  both  governments, 
under  which  alone  it  can  be  made  consistent  with  a  state  of 
peace.  I  shall  not  trouble  you  with  any  detailed  examination 
of  this  point;  the  general  principles  of  our  government  you 
would  find  as  I  have  stated,  and  if  they  are  not  repugnant  to 


1813.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  537 

your  instructions  I  think  you  would  soon  complete  the  work  of 
peace  without  the  help  or  hindrance  of  any  mediator. 

I  have  not  yet  had  a  good  opportunity  for  America  to  send 
your  letters  for  Mrs.  Gal  latin ;  they  are  now  here,  but  a  cartel 
is  expected  to  sail  in  a  few  days,  and  they  shall  be  taken  care 
of.  We  have  not  hitherto  received  any  for  you.  I  beg  you 
will  believe  me  at  all  times  happy  to  be  useful,  and  with 
great  esteem  and  regard,  dear  sir,  your  sincerely  devoted  ser 
vant. 


THE   AMERICAN   COMMISSIONERS   TO   MONROE. 

October  -,3'  1813. 
*"> 

SIR, — We  have  the  honor  to  inform  you  that  on  the  10th 
inst.  we  received  a  letter  from  the  Count  Romanzoff,  a  copy 
of  which  accompanies  this  despatch,  by  which  we  were  informed 
that  his  Majesty  the  Emperor  had  authorized  in  his  absence  the 
Count  to  receive  our  letter  of  credence.  The  Count  in  con 
sequence  having  appointed  a  time  for  our  reception,  we  attended 
accordingly  and  delivered  our  letters. 

The  delay  in  the  negotiation  of  our  diplomatic  capacity  has 
been  of  no  importance,  as  the  Court  of  Great  Britain  has  ap 
pointed  no  person  to  meet  us,  nor  has  as  yet  intimated  an 
intention  of  making  such  appointment. 

We  are  now  waiting  for  the  answer  of  the  British  Cabinet  to 
the  renewed  overture  of  the  mediation  of  this  government.  We 
have  reason  to  expect  it  shortly,  and  if  in  this  expectation  we 
should  be  disappointed,  it  will  be  owing  to  the  course  pursued 
by  the  British  government.  In  the  event  of  the  refusal  of  Great 
Britain  to  open  a  negotiation  for  a  treaty  of  peace  if  no  further 
instructions  should  be  received,  Messrs.  Gal  latin  and  Bayard 
will  feel  it  their  duty  to  return  to  the  United  States  as  soon  as 
it  may  be  practicable  from  the  state  of  the  season. 

If  the  views  of  our  government  should  induce  them,  after  the 
receipt  of  this  despatch,  to  transmit  to  us  further  instructions, 
we  would  suggest  the  propriety  of  addressing  them  to  the  care 


588  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813. 

of  our  consul  at  Gottenburg,  Mr.  ,  where  they  would 

meet  Messrs.  Gallatin  and  Bayard  should  they  be  detained  over 
the  winter. 

The  best  information  we  can  obtain  does  not  allow  us  to 
suppose  that  the  navigation  from  Cronstadt  will  remain  open 
longer  than  the  commencement  of  the  ensuing  month,  and  being 
informed  also  that  it  will  not  again  open  before  the  middle  of 
May,  we  have  deemed  it  advisable  to  order  the  ship  Neptune  to 
Gottenburg,  where  the  navigation  is  generally  open  at  all  seasons, 
and  to  which  place  a  journey  may  be  made  without  great  suffer- 
ing  or  hazard  during  the  winter.  The  view  in  this  arrangement 
is  to  avoid  protracting  the  duration  of  the  mission  longer  than 
hopes  are  entertained  that  its  object  can  be  accomplished. 

We  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  sir,  your  most 
obedient  servants. 


GALLATIN  TO  ALEXANDER  BARING. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  18th  October,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — This  letter  will  be  delivered  to  you  by  Mr.  G. 
M.  Dallas,  who  had  accompanied  me  as  private  secretary,  and 
who  is  desirous  of  spending  a  few  months  in  England  before 
his  return  to  America,  provided  his  stay  is  permitted  by  your 
government.  He  has  no  public  character,  and  should  be  con 
sidered  only  as  a  young  gentleman  of  merit.  As  such  I  beg 
leave  to  recommend  him  to  your  kind  attentions.  .  .  . 

I  have  nothing  to  add  to  my  letter  of  August,  written  in  an 
swer  to  yours  of  22d  July.  Not  a  single  word  has  since  that 
time  reached  me  from  England,  either  directly  or  through  the 
medium  of  the  Russian  government.  No  such  proposition  as 
was  suggested  in  your  letter  has  been  made  or  hinted  in  any 
shape.  If  the  determination  of  your  government  had  been 
such  as  you  stated,  it  would  have  been  advantageous  to  receive 
it  early  in  an  official  shape,  as  although  it  would  have  pre 
vented  a  negotiation  with  this  mission,  yet  we  would  have  lost 
no  time  in  transmitting  the  proposition  to  our  government; 
whilst  on  the  other  hand  the  delay  has  prevented  our  return 


1813.  LETTEES,    ETC.  589 

to  America,  and  if  there  was  a  prospect  of  peace  there  will 
have  been  an  useless  continuance  of  the  reciprocal  injuries  of 
war.  We  are  now  probably  chained  here  for  the  winter,  and 
this,  I  think,  affords  an  additional  motive  in  favor  of  the 
acceptance  of  the  mediation  on  the  part  of  your  government. 
I  remain,  with  great  regard  and  respect,  &c. 


GALLATIN   TO   G.   M.   DALLAS. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  18th  October,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  cannot  recommend  to  you  too  much  discretion 
and  caution  during  your  stay  in  England.  Whatever  you  may 
know  or  conjecture  of  our  intentions  or  opinions,  or  of  those  of 
our  government,  you  must  nevertheless  appear  altogether  igno 
rant  of.  The  only  thing  you  can  with  propriety  say  on  the 
subject  is  that  there  is  the  most  sincere  wish  on  the  part  of  our 
government  to  make  peace,  and  the  most  cordial,  nay,  anxious 
disposition  of  ours  individually  to  effect  that  object,  but  that 
our  powers  are  simply  to  treat  of  peace  with  England  under 
the  mediation  of  Russia.  To  any  question  respecting  a  trans 
fer  of  negotiation,  either  with  or  without  mediation,  to  London 
or  any  other  place,  your  answer  must  be  that  you  can  form  no 
opinion. 

In  the  mean  while  you  may  listen  to  everything  which  may 
be  communicated  to  you  as  coming  from  the  British  govern 
ment  through  either  the  Russian  ambassador,  Mr.  Baring,  or 
any  other  channel  in  which  full  confidence  may  be  placed.  And 
you  will  lose  no  time  in  transmitting  such  information  to  us,  and 
also  to  our  government,  if  you  think  it  of  such  nature  that  they 
should  be  promptly  acquainted  with  it.  But  you  must  not  com 
municate  to  the  Secretary  of  State  any  vague  rumors,  nor  any 
information  indeed  which  is  not  important  and  in  the  truth  of 
which  you  do  not  place  perfect  reliance.  Communications  of  that 
sort  are  but  too  often  made,  and  never  fail  to  mislead  government 
and  to  injure  the  person  who  makes  them.  I  will  also  add  that, 
as  you  will  be  in  England  on  sufferance,  you  must  not  seek  for 


590  WEITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1813 

such  information,  but  only  receive  it  as  it  may  be  given  to  you. 
The  only  exceptions  are  Count  Lieven  and  Mr.  Baring.  To  the 
last  you  may  say  that  you  will  be  happy  in  communicating  to 
me  whatever  he  may  think  useful  towards  promoting  the  resto 
ration  of  peace.  To  the  Count  you  may  mention  that  if  there 
be,  in  his  opinion,  any  information  of  which  it  should  be  im 
portant  that  our  government  should  be  immediately  informed,  I 
have  authorized  you  to  receive  it  and  transmit  it  accordingly. 

There  is,  however,  but  one  point  of  real  importance  that  I 
can  anticipate  which  would  render  a  communication  to  our  gov 
ernment  from  you  necessary.  If  it  be  the  final  determination 
of  the  British  government  to  reject  the  mediation,  and  they  be 
at  the  same  time  disposed  to  open  a  direct  negotiation,  our  gov 
ernment  cannot  be  too  soon  apprised  of  it,  in  order  to  enable 
them  immediately  to  act  upon  the  subject  as  they  may  think 
proper.  But  I  must  repeat  that  you  must  not  encourage  that 
prospect  or  give  any  opinion  of  the  probability  of  its  being 
accepted  in  America. 


GALLATIN   TO    COUNT   ROMANZOFF. 

M.  Gallatin  a  Phonneur  de  communiquer  a  son  Excellence 
Monsieur  le  Comte  de  Romanzoif  qu'il  paratt  par  une  gazette 
americaine  du  3me  aout  dernier,  que  le  S6nat  des  Etats-Unis, 
ayant  e"mis  une  opinion  que  les  deux  places  de  Secretaire  de  la 
Tresorerie  et  de  ministre  employe  dans  une  mission  diplomatique 
ne  devraient  pas  £tre  unies  dans  la  mSme  personne,  et  le  Presi 
dent  n'ayant  pas  cependant  juge"  convenable  de  remplacer  dans 
le  moment  M.  Gallatin  dans  le  Departement  des  Finances,  le 
Senat  a  refuse"  son  consentement  au  choix  que  le  President  avait 
fait  de  lui  comme  envoye  extraordinaire  et  ministre  plenipoten- 
tiaire.  Le  caractere  de  la  gazette  et  les  details  qu'elle  donne 
ne  laissant  aucun  doute  sur  Pauthentieite'  de  cette  nouvelle,  M. 
Gallatin  desire  pouvoir  cesser  d'exercer  des  fonctions  qui  ne  lui 
appartiennent  plus;  ce  qui  ne  peut  d'ailleurs  produire  aucun 
inconvenient,  puisque  Messieurs  Adams  et  Bayard  d'apres  les 
pouvoirs  donnes  dans  Forigine  a  la  mission  resteront  munis 


1813.  LETTEES,    ETC.  591 

(Tune  autoritS  aussi  entire  &  tons  e"gards  sans  lui  qu'avec  lui. 
Mais  aucun  des  membres  de  la  mission  n'ayant  re9U  de  lettres 
d'Ame*rique  d'une  date  subsequente  au  refus  du  Senat,  et  M. 
Gal  latin  n'ayant  en  consequence  ni  lettres  de  rappel  ni  aucun 
avis  de  son  gouvernement  qui  le  mette  en  6tat  de  faire  une 
communication  officielle  a  cet  egard  au  Chancelier  de  FEmpire, 
il  prie  M.  le  Comte  de  Ronianzoff  d'ajouter  au  civilites  dont  il 
a  bien  voulu  Phonorer,  celle  de  lui  accorder  quelques  moments 
de  conversation  inofficielle  sur  la  maniere  dont  il  convient  qu'il 
demande  ses  passeports  et  prenne  conge*.  M.  Gallatin  renou- 
velle  a  M.  le  Comte  de  Komanzoff  Passurance  sincere  de  sa 
consideration  la  plus  distinguee. 
ST.  PETERSBOURG,  Novembre  1,  1813. 


GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

Private. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  21st  November,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  received  a  few  days  ago  a  letter  from  Mr. 
Baring,  copy  of  which  is  enclosed,  and  which,  if  considered  as 
coming  from  the  British  government,  sufficiently  explains  its 
views.  We  have  no  letter  from  you  of  a  date  subsequent  to 
the  despatch  of  23d  June.  But  I  have  seen  by  the  newspapers 
the  rejection  of  my  nomination,  and  will  depart  the  moment  the 
snow  will  render  the  roads  practicable.  I  may  take  England  in 
my  way,  and  try  at  least  to  bring  you  such  information  on  the 
practicability  of  an  arrangement  as  may  be  relied  on.  The  pros 
pect,  as  you  will  perceive,  is  not  flattering.  If  the  final  answer 
of  the  Emperor  respecting  the  mediation  comes  within  a  reason 
able  time,  Mr.  Bayard  and  myself  will  remain  together,  and  we 
will  under  every  circumstance  act  in  perfect  concert. 

With  great  respect  and  regard,  dear  sir,  your  obedient  servant. 


592  WKITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1813. 


ALEXANDER   BARING   TO    GALLATIN. 

LONDON,  December  14,  1813. 

DEAR  SIR, — The  letter  with  which  you  favored  me  by  Mr. 
Dallas  found  me  in  the  country,  from  whence  I  am  just  returned, 
and  have  had  the  pleasure  of  making  that  gentleman's  acquaint 
ance.  I  beg  you  will  be  assured  that  I  shall  be  disposed  to  pay 
him  every  possible  attention,  and  your  instructions  respecting 
money  shall  be  punctually  attended  to. 

No  person  can  more  sincerely  regret  than  I  do  the  fruitless 
issue  of  a  mission  from  which  much  was  very  properly  expected, 
but  there  is  for  the  present  no  remedy  :  the  line  which  has  been 
adopted  will  now  be  followed,  and  we  must  only  hope  that  the 
sort  of  misunderstanding  which  has  taken  place  will  retard  but 
for  a  short  time  the  restoration  of  peace,  about  which  I  am  con 
fidently  of  opinion  there  continue  to  exist  no  difficulties  that  are 
insurmountable  nor  even  very  serious.  It  is  ridiculous  enough 
that  mere  forms  should  stand  in  the  way  of  an  event  so  desirable, 
but  there  are  few  material  obstacles,  and  perhaps  the  former 
even  might  have  been  got  the  better  of  if  the  extraordinary 
events  in  European  politics  had  not  for  the  last  few  months 
almost  made  us  lose  sight  of  more  distant  objects.  Not  that  I 
believe  the  disposition  for  peace  with  America  at  all  diminished. 
The  pressure  of  the  war  is  diminished  by  the  altered  state  of  our 
commerce,  now  abundantly  prosperous,  and  also  by  the  political 
effect  of  the  non-existence  of  French  maritime  commerce,  for  it 
is  a  singular  result  of  late  events  that  the  project  for  the  destruc 
tion  of  our  commerce  ends  in  the  destruction  of  that  of  France 
to  a  degree  which,  under  present  circumstances,  produces  through 
the  finances  of  France  political  and  military  consequences.  But 
I  am  sure  that  our  government  will  be  found  equally  ready  to 
put  an  end  to  the  war  as  soon  as  it  can  be  done  consistently  with 
the  principles  they  have  laid  down  of  preferring  a  direct  to  a 
mediatorial  negotiation.  I  was  surprised  at  your  information 
that  no  communication  had  been  made  to  you  on  the  subject  of 
the  refusal  of  the  mediation,  and  I  find  on  inquiry  that  Lord 
Cathcart's  note  on  this  subject  to  the  Russian  government  was 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  593 

of  the  25th  of  September;  why  it  should  not  have  reached  you 
earlier  I  cannot  comprehend.  It  may  interest  you  to  know  that 
this  declaration  of  Lord  Cathcart  was  on  the  5th  October  com 
municated  directly  by  my  Lord  Castlereagh  to  Mr.  Monroe  in 
America,  so  that  it  is  possible  that  instructions  may  now  be  on 
the  way  from  America  to  the  commission  in  consequence.  Mr. 
Monroe  was  at  the  same  time  informed  that  our  admiral  on  the 
American  station  was  instructed  to  give  every  facility  to  the 
passage  to  Europe  of  any  persons  your  government  might  send, 
either  for  the  purpose  of  negotiating  or  for  the  conveyance  of 
despatches,  and  I  trust  and  hope,  therefore,  that  it  will  not  be 
long  before  we  have  some  serious  demonstration  of  a  pacific 
nature.  In  talking  to  Mr.  Dallas,  he  seemed  to  think  it  not 
improbable  that  you  might  return  to  America  during  the  winter; 
I  have  no  authority  for  saying  anything  on  the  subject,  because 
I  have  made  no  communication  concerning  it,  having  only  seen 
Mr.  Dallas  within  the  last  hour,  but  I  can  safely  assure  you  that 
every  attention  and  accommodation  would  be  afforded  to  your 
passage  through  this  country,  and  I  should  even  entertain  great 
hope  of  good  effects  from  such  a  passing  visit,  which  might 
smooth  many  difficulties  which  a  more  formal  treatment  might 
find  less  manageable.  In  every  event  I  beg  you  will  command 
my  services,  and  believe  me  truly,  dear  sir,  your  sincerely 
obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN    TO   MONROE. 

Private. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  7th  January,  1814. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  might  from  the  state  of  the  roads  have  departed 
three  weeks  ago,  but  postponed  my  departure  from  a  hope  that 
a  decisive  answer  might  be  received  from  the  Emperor's  head 
quarters,  which  would  enable  Mr.  Bayard  to  go  at  the  same  time. 
No  answer  is  yet  received.  What  is  the  cause  of  the  delay  it 
would  be  idle  to  conjecture.  But  I  have  fixed  the  21st  instant 
(New  Style)  for  the  day  on  which  I  will  leave  this  city  for 
Amsterdam,  whence,  according  to  circumstances,  I  will  embark 
for  America  or  take  England  in  my  way.  I  have  several  reasons 
VOL.  i.— 39 


594  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1814. 

for  preferring  going  through  Holland  rather  than  by  the  way  of 
Sweden;  the  principal  of  which  is  that  I  will  be  able  to  judge 
whether  it  is  proper  and  useful  to  touch  in  England.  Yet  this 
may  ultimately  be  a  matter  of  necessity  and  not  of  choice,  since, 
if  Mr.  Bayard  and,  of  course,  our  ship  are  detained  in  Europe,  I 
have  no  other  means  of  returning  but  by  a  cartel  from  a  British 
port  in  the  United  States.  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great 
respect  and  consideration,  your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO  ALEXANDER  BARING. 

ST.  PETERSBURG,  7th  January,  1814. 

DEAR  SIR, — It  is  my  intention  to  leave  this  city  on  the  20th 
instant,  and  to  proceed  by  land  to  Amsterdam,  whence  I  may 
touch  in  England  on  my  way  to  the  United  States,  if,  upon  due 
consideration,  that  step  should  appear  proper  and  advisable.  On 
that  subject  I  would  wish  to  have  your  opinion  in  a  letter  directed 
to  the  care  of  the  houses  of  Vilhen  &  Jan  Willink  and  N.  J.  & 
R.  Van  Staphorst,  bankers  of  the  United  States  at  Amsterdam. 
I  hope  that  Mr.  Bayard  will  leave  Russia  at  the  same  time  and 
that  we  will  travel  together,  although  he  is  still  waiting  for  an 
answer  from  this  government  whether  the  offer  of  mediation  has 
been  accepted  or  rejected  by  the  British  government.  For  we 
have  not  to  this  day  received  any  official  communication  on  that 
point,  nor  has  the  proposition  of  a  direct  negotiation  reached  us. 

This  letter  will  be  delivered  by  Mr.  John  P.  Todd,  Mrs. 
Madison's  son,  who  had  accompanied  us  and  intends  to  return 
with  us.  I  beg  leave  to  recommend  him  to  your  kind  atten 
tions.  , 


GEORGE   M.  DALLAS   TO  GALLATIN. 

LONDON,  January  11,  1814. 

DEAR  SIR, — Reports  have  been  so  incessant  relative  to  your 
departure  from  St.  Petersburg  that  I  have  not  deemed  it  neces- 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  595 

sary  or  safe  to  address  you  at  that  place.  The  last  and  most 
certain  information  I  received  was  through  Mr.  Beasley,  who 
showed  me  an  extract  from  a  letter  of  Mr.  Adams,  intimating 
that  you  were  on  the  eve  of  quitting  Russia,  having  finally  heard 
from  Lord  Cathcart  the  determination  of  the  British  Cabinet  on 
the  question  of  mediation,  and  that  you  would  probably  travel  to 
the  south  in  order  to  avoid  the  Baltic.  I  have  concluded  your 
design  was  to  consume  the  winter  on  the  road,  and  to  reach 
Gottenburg  early  in  the  spring.  Fearful,  however,  of  being 
mistaken,  and  anxious  to  communicate  the  little  of  importance 
that  has  occurred  since  my  arrival  here,  I  hasten  to  intrust  one 
more  letter  to  the  care  of  Mr.  Hale,  to  insure  its  meeting  you 
before  you  sail  for  America. 

It  was  not  until  the  13th  of  December  that  I  received  any 
notice  from  his  Excellency  Count  Lieven,  and  on  the  14th, 
according  to  his  desire,  I  called  upon  him.  He  was  exceed 
ingly  polite,  and  told  me  that  he  had  been  anxious  to  see  me; 
that  he  had  written  several  notes,  which  he  supposed  had  mis 
carried,  and  that  owing  to  a  very  great  press  of  business  he  had 
not  been  able  to  make  regular  inquiries  for  the  place  of  my  resi 
dence.  He  wished  to  speak  about  what  particularly  interested 
me.  I  interrupted  him,  and,  in  order  to  do  away  any  impression 
which  some  absurd  paragraphs  in  the  newspapers  relative  to  me 
might  produce,  thought  it  best  to  state  explicitly  and  in  the 
words  of  your  letter  why  and  how  far  I  deemed  myself  author 
ized  to  proceed  in  the  business.  The  Count  then  said  that  Lord 
Castlereagh  had  questioned  him  upon  my  arrival; — "a  fact 
which  I  deemed  it  improper  to  deny  or  conceal ;" — but  he  an 
swered  that  the  object  of  my  coming  could  only  be  agreeable 
to  the  British  Cabinet,  as  it  was  simply  pacific.  He  had  in 
tended  directing  me  to  write  a  long  letter  to  my  government 
explanatory  of  the  views  and  dispositions  of  this  Cabinet.  But 
Lord  Castlereagh,  having  obtained  from  the  ministers  at  St. 
Petersburg  an  unqualified  declaration  that  their  powers  were 
limited  to  a  negotiation  under  mediation  (but  that  they  were 
certain  America  would  treat  in  any  way  wished  for  by  the 
British  government),  had  himself  written,  in  the  latter  end  of 
October,  to  Mr.  Monroe,  stating  the  precise  circumstances  of  the 


596  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

mission,  what  communications  had  taken  place  between  the 
gentlemen  who  composed  it  and  his  government,  and  had 
finished  by  reiterating  the  anxiety  of  the  British  Cabinet  to 
make  peace.  Count  Lieven  then  went  somewhat  into  the 
argument  he  had  heard  from  Lord  Castlereagh  relating  to  the 
right  of  search  and  impressment  as  practised  by  the  British 
navy,  which  he  conceived  could  only  be  bottomed  on  a  case 
of  necessity.  He  declared  that  since  his  coming  to  the  Court 
of  St.  James,  and  particularly  since  the  offered  mediation  of  his 
Emperor,  he  had  had  several  conversations  upon  the  subject  of 
the  American  war  with  the  English  minister ;  that  Lord  Castle 
reagh  had  invariably  and  with  great  apparent  sincerity  pro 
nounced  his  wish  to  accommodate ;  but  had  stated  at  length  his 
reasons  for  refusing  the  Russian  mediation  (reasons  that  Count 
Lieven  did  not  appear  inclined  to  dwell  upon) ;  had  instanced 
as  a  proof  of  this  conciliatory  spirit  my  being  permitted  to 
remain  in  the  country,  and  had  offered,  if  I  expressed  a  wish, 
to  receive  me  and  to  hear  what  I  had  to  say  or  propose.  The 
Count  concluded  by  requesting  me  to  call  upon  him  frequently, 
when  he  would  tell  me  everything  relating  to  the  matter,  and 
desired  me  to  write  in  his  name  and  to  assure  my  government 
of  his  perfect  belief  in  the  sincerity  and  pacific  wishes  of  the 
British  Cabinet. 

I  declined  the  offer  of  being  introduced  to  Lord  Castlereagh, 
stating  that  I  was  not  authorized  to  take  any  such  formal  step, 
having  merely  received  from  you  directions  to  hear  whatever 
his  Excellency  might  deem  important  enough  to  communicate 
to  my  government,  and  to  transmit  it  immediately ;  that  I  was 
desired  to  assure  him  again  and  again  of  the  real  wish  for  peace 
on  the  part  of  the  United  States  and  of  the  appointed  ministers 
individually,  who  had  in  contemplation  a  base  for  negotiation 
that  did  not  appear  to  oppose  any  principle  hitherto  asserted  by 
the  British  government.  To  his  information  that  Lord  Castle 
reagh  had  written  to  Mr.  Monroe,  I  told  him  I  could  hazard 
no  opinion  as  to  the  probability  of  ministers  being  sent  from 
the  United  States,  but  sincerely  hoped  they  would. 

On  the  same  day  I  called  upon  Mr.  Baring,  and  found  him 
just  returned  from  the  country.  He  mentioned  that  he  had 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  597 

written  you  a  second  letter,  and  was  surprised  it  had  not  reached 
you  before  I  left  St.  Petersburg.  He  seemed  to  have  abandoned 
every  hope  of  any  negotiation,  unless  ministers  came  here  from 
the  United  States,  or  you  had  time  to  receive  new  powers  and 
instructions.  He  told  me  that  Lord  Castlereagh  had  that  morn 
ing,  in  the  most  formal  and  public  manner,  crossed  the  floor  of 
the  House  of  Commons  to  make  inquiries  from  him  about  my 
arrival ;  that  his  Lordship  expressed  some  surprise  at  my  not 
immediately  apprising  him,  and  declared  it  an  evidence  of  an 
extreme  condescension  and  of  amicable  spirit  that  he  allowed 
me  to  continue  in  the  country.  Mr.  Baring  undertook  a  per 
sonal  responsibility  for  my  actions.  He  concluded  by  saying 
that  he  really  thought  ministers  were  desirous  of  terminating 
the  American  war,  but  that  he  had  nothing  which  he  supposed 
worth  communicating  to  you  just  now. 

After  the  conference  with  Count  Lieven  I  had  resolved  on 
writing  to  Mr.  Monroe  immediately,  but  upon  being  told  by 
Mr.  Baring  that  he  had  assumed  a  personal  responsibility  for 
my  conduct,  which  he  trusted  he  would  not  find  reason  to  think 
misplaced,  and  supposing  a  communication  made  by  Mr.  Beas- 
ley  in  my  name  and  with  the  necessary  explanations  would  an 
swer  the  same  purpose,  I  drew  up  the  following  short  note,  to 
which  he  was  kind  enough  to  put  his  signature,  and  which  I 
enclose  merely  with  a  view  to  let  you  know  everything  I  have 
done. 

SIR, — I  had  the  honor  to  transmit  on  the  8th  a  despatch  from 
St.  Petersburg  put  into  my  hands  by  Mr.  Dallas.  Some  re 
marks  having  been  made  on  the  manner  of  his  arrival  by  Lord 
Castlereagh  to  Mr.  Baring,  and  the  latter  gentleman  having 
assumed  a  personal  responsibility,  &c. 

This,  I  believe,  was  forwarded  to  the  United  States  on  the 
18th  of  December  last,  since  which  time  nothing  has  occurred 
at  all  connected  with  the  business.  I  have  not  lately  seen 
Count  Lieven.  Mr.  Baring  has  again  left  town.  The  cause 
of  the  allies  is  successful  on  the  Continent.  Generals  Wilkin 
son  and  Hampton  have  been  baffled  in  Canada,  and  America  is 


598  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIK  1814. 

scarcely  thought  of.  I  have  remained  in  London  for  the  last 
six  weeks,  daily  anticipating  something  to  turn  up,  and  always 
prepared,  at  a  moment's  warning,  even  to  cross  the  Atlantic  if 
the  occasion  required.  Resolved,  however,  to  adhere  strictly  to 
your  short  instructions,  I  have  waited  in  vain. 

The  intended  visit  to  my  relations  in  Devonshire  I  have  not 
yet  paid,  but  am  now  making  preparations  for  a  short  trip  to 
them.  In  the  mean  while,  should  you  think  proper  to  write  to 
me,  your  letters  will  most  promptly  be  forwarded  if  directed  to 
the  care  of  Mr.  Beasley.  I  am  anxious  to  know  if  what  I  have 
done  meets  with  your  approbation,  if  I  can  do  anything  more, 
or  whether,  in  your  opinion,  I  had  better  return  home.  I  wish 
to  see  Edinburgh,  Dublin,  and  Paris,  but  your  advice  shall  be 
gratefully  received  and  most  religiously  pursued. 

Present  my  best  respects  to  Mr.  Bayard,  upon  whose  kind 
ness  during  rny  connection  with  the  mission  I  look  back  with 
warm  gratitude;  to  Mr.  Milligan,  Mr.  Todd,  and  James.  And 
for  yourself,  dear  sir,  receive  the  assurances  of  an  unaltered 
aifection  and  veneration  from 

Your  most  obliged  pupil. 


GALLATIN   TO   COUNT   ROMANZOFF. 


Janvier,  1814. 


MONSIEUR  LE  COMTE,  —  Je  ne  puis  pas  quitter  St.  Peters- 
bourg  sans  vous  remercier  encore  une  fois,  non  plus  comme 
ministre  mais  comme  simple  particulier,  des  civilites  dont  vous 
m'avez  comble",  et  surtout  de  Pamitie  que  vous  avez  teinoignee 
pour  PAme'rique. 

La  confiance  que  vous  m'avez  inspiree  m'enhardit  a  vous  dire 
avec  candeur  que  c'est  avec  un  tres-grand  regret  que  je  vois  que 
nous  partons,  non  seulement  sans  avoir  reussi,  mais  meme  sans 
avoir  re9U  une  reponse  positive  de  S.  M.  I.  sur  la  determination 
de  PAngleterre  au  sujet  de  la  mediation.  Je  ne  vous  repeterai 
point  ce  que  je  vous  ai  deja  dit,  et  que  je  n'aurais  jamais  dit  si 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  599 

je  ne  Favais  pas  senti,  sur  la  parfaite  confiance  que  nous  avons 
pour  FEmpereur  Alexandra,  dont  les  talents  et  surtout  les  vertus 
forment  une  phenomene  historique.  Mais  je  ne  saurais  vous 
cacher  que  la  manque  de  r6ponse  a  la  mission  extraordinaire  des 
£tats-Unis  peut  produire  en  Ame'rique  un  effet  deTavorable  et 
faire  retomber  sur  le  gouvernement  de  la  Russie  le  blame  qui 
n'appartient  qu'a  FAngleterre.  Mais  ce  qu'il  y  a  de  plus  facheux, 
c'est  que  tant  que  Ton  reste  dans  cette  incertitude  a  cet  6gard, 
aucunes  mesures  ne  peuvent  etre  prises  pour  des  negociations 
directes,  en  sorte  que  la  paix  entre  les  Etats-Unis  et  FAngleterre 
aura  peut-£tre  e"te"  recule"e  par  Foffre  de  la  mediation  de  la  Russie, 
et  un  effet  produit  totalement  contraire  aux  intentions  bienfai- 
santes  de  S.  M.  I.  L'importance  d'une  reponse  serait  encore 
plus  grande  si,  com  me  on  nous  Favait  fait  entendre,  Foffre  d'une 
ne"gociation  directe  6tait  renferme"e  dans  le  refus  de  FAngleterre 
de  traiter  sous  une  mediation. 

Si  ces  considerations  frappent  votre  Excellence,  j'oserais  vous 
prier  de  faire  un  dernier  effort  pour  qu'une  reponse  du  quartier- 
g^n6ral  put  nous  atteindre  avant  que  nous  quittions  le  continent. 
Nous  serons  au  inoins  six  semaines  a  nous  rendre  a  Amsterdam, 
ou  je  compte  aller  par  Berlin,  Leipsick,  Gotha  et  Cassel ;  et 
dans  les  circonstances  actuelles  ce  serait  faire  a  ce  que  je  crois 
un  bien  &  1' Ame'rique  et  meme  a  FAngleterre  de  nous  faire  par- 
venir  une  reponse  officielle  de  S.  M.  I.  a  Fune  de  ces  places. 

Acceptez,  M.  le  Comte,  Fassurance  r6iter6e  de  ma  considera 
tion  la  plus  distingu6e  et  permettez-moi  dans  cette  derni£re  note 
de  m'appeler  votre  devoue"  et  affectionn^  serviteur. 

M.  Harris  qui  vous  remettra  cette  lettre  et  qui  part  dans  dix 
jours,  recevra  toutes  les  communications  que  vous  voudrez  bien 
lui  faire.1 

1  This  appears  to  be  the  note  alluded  to  in  J.  Q.  Adams's  Memoirs,  ii.  pp. 
569-573;  1st  Feb.,  1814;  but  it  hardly  warrants  Count  llomanzoff's  re 
mark  that  it  requested  "  him  to  write  to  them  [Gallatin  and  Bayard]  what 
ever  might  occur  after  their  departure  in  reference  to  the  mission,"  p.  569. 
The  account  given  of  it  by  Mr.  Harris,  p.  573,  is  more  accurate;  but  in 
fact  this  note  contains  no  request  for  any  communication  from  Count 
Romanzoff  beyond  the  official  answer  of  the  Emperor  in  regard  to  the 
mediation. 


600  WKITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 


GALLATIN  TO   BARING  BROTHERS  &   CO. 

AMSTERDAM,  7th  March,  1814. 

GENTLEMEN, —  ...  It  was  on  the  25th  January  that  Mr. 
Bayard  and  myself  left  St.  Petersburg,  and  after  a  very  tedious 
journey  we  arrived  here  without  accident  on  the  evening  of  the 
4th  instant.  I  had  hoped  to  find  here  a  letter  from  you  or  from 
Mr.  Alexander  Baring,  but  apprehend  that  you  have  not  yet 
received  mine  of  14th  January,  nor  he  another  of  prior  date. 
In  these  I  requested  that  you  would  have  the  goodness  to  ascer 
tain  whether  there  will  be  any  objection  on  the  part  of  your 
government  to  my  touching  in  England  on  my  return  to  the 
United  States,  and  if  there  was  not,  to  send  me  here,  under 
cover  of  Messrs.  Willink,  the  necessary  passport  for  myself,  son, 
and  servants.  In  repeating  these  requests  I  will  also  ask  that 
you  would  ascertain  whether  we  could  obtain  a  passage  for 
America,  with  your  government's  consent,  in  any  cartel  sailing 
about  April  1.  Although  I  wish  to  ascertain  this,  I  hope  not 
to  be  obliged  to  resort  to  this  mode  of  returning  home,  and  that 
I  will  be  able  to  go  in  the  Neptune,  which  brought  us  here  from 
America.  Unfortunately,  she  has  not  yet  arrived  in  a  port  of 
Holland,  as  we  had  directed  Captain  Jones  to  do  before  we  left 
Russia.  And  I  hear  that  although  he  wintered  in  the  outer 
harbor,  which  is  generally  free  of  ice  almost  all  the  year,  the 
severity  of  this  winter  may  detain  him  longer  than  I  would  wish 
to  wait.  It  is  only  in  case  he  should  be  so  detained  that  I  will 
wish  to  sail  in  a  cartel  from  England,  and  on  that  account  I  will 
thank  you  to  give  me  any  information  you  may  have  respecting 
the  said  ship  Neptune.  .  .  .  Will  you  also  have  the  goodness 
to  let  Mr.  Dallas,  if  in  London,  know  of  my  arrival,  and  request 
him  to  write  to  me  ?  Mr.  Bayard  will,  of  course,  proceed  to  Got- 
tenburg  to  meet  the  other  commissioners  of  the  United  States. 
I  do  not  know  in  what  manner  or  by  what  route  he  intends  to 
go;  but  I  feel  much  interested  that  he  should  not  be  obliged  to 
make  use  of  the  Neptune  for  that  purpose,  as  it  would  disappoint 
and  detain  me.  It  is  therefore  my  wish  that  he  may  have  it  in 
his  power,  if  he  shall  think  it  consistent  with  propriety,  to  go 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  (501 

hence  to  England  and  thence  to  Gottenburg  in  a  British  packet, 
and  I  request  that  a  passport,  for  which  he  would  not  probably 
apply  himself,  may  be  sent  to  him  immediately  for  that  pur 
pose.  .  .  . 


GALLATIN  TO  ALEXANDER  BARING. 

AMSTERDAM,  1st  April,  1814. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  had  the  pleasure  to  receive  your  two  letters 
of  the  14th  and  17th  ult.,  and  have  concluded  to  pass  through 
England  on  my  return  to  the  United  States.  The  Neptune  has 
not  yet  arrived,  and  I  have  left  orders  for  the  captain,  on  his 
coming  to  any  port  of  Holland,  to  proceed  immediately  to  Fal- 
mouth,  where  I  will  join  him  from  London.  I  leave  this  place 
to-morrow, — Saturday, — and  intend  to  embark  in  the  packet  at 
Helvoetsluys  on  Tuesday  next.  I  request,  therefore,  that  you 
will  have  the  goodness  to  procure  the  necessary  orders,  and  to 
have  them  conveyed  to  the  proper  authorities  at  Harwich,  so 
that  they  may  reach  that  place  before  my  arrival.  I  wish  those 
orders  to  extend  to  two  points:  1.  That  I  may  be  permitted  to 
proceed  to  London  with  my  suite  without  delay.  2.  That  my 
baggage  may  not  be  searched, — a  courtesy  to  which  I  would  be 
entitled  if  I  was  not  an  enemy,  and  which  under  the  circum 
stances  of  my  passing  through  England  will  not,  it  is  presumed, 
be  refused.  For  on  account  of  the  delay  of  the  Neptune  I  am 
compelled  to  carry  through  England  what  would  otherwise  have 
been  put  on  board  that  vessel,  viz.,  my  papers  and  about  £150 
worth  of  various  trifles  purchased  here  and  at  St.  Petersburg. 
...  I  regret  to  be  obliged  to  give  you  that  trouble  on  such  a 
subject.  My  apology  is  that  however  pleased  I  would  have 
been  under  other  circumstances  to  visit  England,  my  passing 
through  it  at  present  cannot  be  personally  agreeable,  and  that 
my  only  motive  is  to  try  to  be  of  some  use  both  there  and  in 
America,  by  giving  and  receiving  such  explanations  as  may  assist 
in  paving  the  way  towards  an  arrangement  between  the  two 
countries.  With  the  hope  of  seeing  you  soon,  I  remain,  &c. 


602  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 


GALLATIN   TO   CRAWFORD. 

LONDON,  21st  April,  1814. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — Mr.  Bayard  and  myself  left  St.  Petersburg 
on  the  25th  January,  remained  four  weeks  at  Amsterdam,  and 
arrived  here  on  the  9th  instant.  I  could  not  write  you  sooner, 
there  having  been  no  communication  with  Paris  from  Holland, 
and  Mr.  Poletica,  who  is  the  bearer  of  this,  having  offered  the 
first  safe  opportunity  for  a  confidential  letter. 

Messrs.  Clay  and  Russell,  who  are  jointly  with  Messrs.  Adams 
and  Bayard  appointed  to  open  a  direct  negotiation  for  peace  with 
Great  Britain,  arrived  at  Gottenburg  on  the  12th  instant,  after  a 
passage  of  forty-six  days ;  but,  as  they  had  not  reached  the  town 
when  the  last  packet  sailed,  we  have  not  yet  received  any  letter 
from  them,  or  any  American  news  brought  by  the  vessel  in 
which  they  came. 

There  is  a  newspaper  report  of  Norfolk,  under  date  of  12th 
February,  stating  that  G.  W.  Campbell  was  made  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury,  Rush  Attorney-General,  and  that  I  had  been 
nominated  fifth  commissioner  to  treat  of  peace  with  England. 
My  stay  in  Europe  will  of  course  depend  on  the  official  account 
which  Messrs.  Clay  and  Russell  will  have  brought.  You  are 
sufficiently  aware  of  the  critical  situation  in  which  the  restora 
tion  of  a  general  European  peace  has  placed  our  affairs.  The 
numerous  English  forces  in  France,  Italy,  Holland,  and  Portu 
gal  ready  for  immediate  service,  and  for  which  there  is  no  fur 
ther  employment  in  Europe,,  afford  to  this  government  the  means 
of  sending  both  to  Canada  and  to  the  United  States  a  very  for 
midable  army,  which  we  are  not  prepared  to  meet  with  any 
regular,  well-organized  force ;  and  they  will  also  turn  against 
us  as  much  of  their  superabundant  naval  forces  as  they  may 
think  adequate  to  any  object  they  have  in  view.  In  the  prose 
cution  of  the  war  the  Ministry  would  be  supported  by  the  gen 
eral  voice  of  the  nation.  In  the  intoxication  of  an  unexpected 
success,  which  they  ascribe  to  themselves,  the  English  people 
eagerly  wish  that  their  pride  may  be  fully  gratified  by  what 
they  call  the  u  punishment  of  America."  They  do  not  even 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  603 

suspect  that  we  had  any  just  cause  of  war,  and  ascribe  it  solely 
to  a  premeditated  concert  with  Bonaparte  at  a  time  when  we 
thought  him  triumphant  and  their  cause  desperate.  That  such 
opinions  should  be  almost  universally  entertained  here  by  the 
great  body  of  the  people  is  not  at  all  astonishing.  To  produce 
such  an  effect,  and  thereby  render  the  American  war  popular, 
the  Ministerial  papers  have  had  nothing  more  to  do  than  to 
transcribe  American  Federal  speeches  and  newspapers.  If 
Pickering,  Quincy,  Strong,  Hanson,  &c.,  have  not  brought  a 
majority  of  the  American  people  to  their  side,  they  have  at  least 
fully  succeeded  here,  and  had  no  difficulty  in  convincing  all 
that  part  of  the  English  community  which  derives  its  informa 
tion  from  political  journals  that  we  had  no  cause  of  complaint, 
and  acted  only  as  allies  of  Bonaparte.  I  understand  that  the 
members  of  the  Cabinet  do  not  participate  in  that  opinion,  but 
it  will  certainly  require  an  effort  on  their  part  against  popular 
feeling  to  make  peace  with  America.  It  must  be  added  that 
even  there  (in  the  Cabinet)  a  belief  is  said  to  be  entertained  that 
a  continuance  of  the  war  would  produce  a  separation  of  the 
Union,  and  perhaps  a  return  of  the  New  England  States  to 
the  mother-country.  The  multitude  of  persons  in  the  army 
and  navy,  or  connected  with  the  war,  where  attached  to  the 
governing  party,  and  whom  peace  will  throw  out  of  employ 
ment,  will  also  press  on  government;  and  although  it  is  prob 
able  that  the  immense  military  and  naval  establishments  of  this 
country  will  be  so  far  reduced  as  to  enable  government  to  dis 
pense  with  the  most  unpopular  war  taxes,  a  prosecution  of  the 
war  against  the  United  States  would  afford  a  convenient  pretence 
for  preserving  a  much  more  considerable  standing  force  than  is 
necessary  and  would  otherwise  be  allowed  by  Parliament.  It 
may,  on  the  whole,  be  reasonably  inferred  that  the  ministers 
will  be  neither  disposed  to  make  the  least  concession  (for  doing 
us  justice  on  any  point  would  receive  that  name)  in  order  to 
obtain  peace,  nor  at  all  displeased  in  case  of  failure  of  the 
negotiations. 

The  only  external  check  to  those  dispositions  can  be  found  in 
the  friendly  interposition  of  the  Emperor  Alexander,  not  as  a 
mediator,  but  as  a  common  friend,  pressing  on  this  government 


604  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

the  propriety  of  an  accommodation,  and  expressing  his  strong 
wishes  for  a  general  restoration  of  peace  to  the  civilized  world. 
I  do  not  know  whether  your  situation  affords  you  means  of 
approaching  him,  and  can  only  state  my  opinion  of  the  great 
importance  that  an  early  opportunity  should  be  taken  by  you,  or 
any  other  person  you  may  think  fitted  for  the  object,  to  call  his 
attention  to  the  situation  in  which  we  are  left,  and  to  the  great 
weight  which  his  opinion  in  favor  of  peace  on  liberal  conditions, 
strongly  expressed  to  this  government,  must  necessarily  have  at 
this  time.  Of  his  friendly  disposition  for  the  United  States  there 
is  no  doubt ;  but  we  may  be  forgotten ;  and  it  is  necessary  that 
he  should  be  apprised  of  the  hostile  spirit  which  prevails  here, 
and  which,  if  not  balanced  by  some  other  cause,  may  even  carry 
ministers  beyond  their  own  wishes  and  view's.  It  should  also 
be  stated  that  our  government  having  accepted  one  year  ago  the 
Emperor's  mediation,  and  not  having  supposed  that,  considering 
the  political  connection  between  him  and  Great  Britain,  she 
could  reject  that  offer,  no  other  provision  was  made  on  our  part 
to  obtain  peace  until  our  government  was  apprised  in  January 
last  of  the  rejection  of  the  mediation  by  England.  Thus  was  a 
delay  of  a  year  produced,  and  the  opening  of  our  negotiations 
unfortunately  prevented  till  after  England  is  at  peace  with  the 
rest  of  the  world;  a  circumstance  which,  although  it  does  not 
give  us  a  positive  right  to  claim  the  Emperor's  interference, 
affords  sufficient  ground  to  present  the  subject  to  his  considera 
tion.  I  entreat  you  to  lose  no  time  in  taking  such  steps  as  may 
be  in  your  power  in  that  respect,  and  to  write  to  me  whatever 
you  may  think  important  for  the  success  of  the  mission  should 
be  known  to  us.  The  only  modes  of  safe  conveyance  which  I 
would  recommend  would  be  private  American  opportunities,  or 
through  the  channel  of  the  Russian  Secretary  of  State,  or  of 
Mr.  Poletica,  directing  to  me  under  cover  of  "Count  Lieven, 
Ambassador  Extraordinary  of  H.  I.  M.  the  Emperor  of  all  the 
Russias,  London." 

I  send  General  La  Fayette's  patents,  which  were  erroneously 
put  in  my  hands  instead  of  yours,  and  which  I  have  had  no 
previous  safe  opportunity  to  transmit.  My  last  letters  from  my 
family  were  dated  23d  January,  when  they  were  all  well;  but  I 


1814.  LETTERS,     ETC.  605 

have  none  of  a  late  date  from  government  or  from  any  of  its 
members. 

I  am,  my  dear  sir,  with  great  respect  and  sincere  attachment, 
truly  yours. 


GALLATIN   TO  LA  FAYETTE. 

LONDON,  21st  April,  1814. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  regret  that  your  patents  should  be  put  in  my 
hands  instead  of  being  intrusted  to  Mr.  Crawford,  as  no  safe 
opportunity  has  as  yet  offered  itself  for  their  conveyance. 

I  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  very  often  your  friend  Tracy  at 
St.  Petersburg,  and  left  him  there  in  good  health  on  25th  of 
January. 

I  believe  that  I  am  not  mistaken  in  offering  you  my  con 
gratulations  on  the  late  events  in  France.  It  would  certainly 
have  been  desirable  that  the  changes  should  have  been  produced 
by  the  spontaneous  will  of  the  French  people  rather  than  to  ap 
pear  to  have  been  forced  by  a  foreign  army.  But  if  such  was 
to  be  the  mode,  you  are  most  singularly  fortunate  that  the  Em 
peror  Alexander  should  have  been  the  agent.  With  respect  to 
the  result  itself,  I  think  that  every  friend  of  rational  liberty 
and  of  humanity  must  rejoice  at  the  overthrow  of  the  detest 
able  tyranny  under  which  you  and  a  great  part  of  Europe 
groaned,  and  in  the  hope  that  you  have  at  last  laid  the  founda 
tions  of  institutions  probably  as  free  and  liberal  as  you  are  sus 
ceptible  of.  My  attachment  to  the  form  of  government  under 
which  I  was  born  and  have  ever  lived  never  made  me  desirous 
that  it  should,  by  way  of  experiment,  be  applied  to  countries 
which  might  be  better  fitted  for  a  limited  monarchy.  And  if 
this  be  that  which  suits  you  best,  I  think  the  ancient  dynasty 
in  every  respect  preferable  to  a  new  one.  Unfortunately,  whilst 
the  greater  part  of  the  civilized  world  rejoices  at  the  restoration 
of  a  general  peace,  the  United  States  remain  alone  at  war,  and 
are  placed  in  a  more  critical  situation  than  ever  they  were 
since  the  first  years  of  their  Revolution.  Pride,  avarice,  and 
ambition  will  throw  here  great  obstacles  to  an  accommodation, 


606  WHITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

for  which  there  has  ever  been,  on  our  part,  the  most  sincere  dis 
position.  I  write  to  you,  well  knowing  your  unalterable  attach 
ment  for  America,  and  that  if  in  your  power  you  will  lend  your 
assistance  in  promoting  that  result. 


GALLATIN    TO    CLAY. 

LONDON,  22d  April,  1814. 

DEAR  SIR, — We  have  just  heard  of  your  arrival,  but  have 
received  no  letters ;  and  I  am  yet  ignorant  whether  I  am  one 
of  the  new  commission  to  treat  of  peace.  My  arrangements 
must  depend  on  that  circumstance,  and  I  wait  with  impatience 
for  the  official  account  which  you  must  have  brought.  For  that 
reason  Mr.  Bayard  addresses  you  and  Mr.  Russell  in  his  own 
name ;  but  I  coincide  fully  with  him  in  the  opinion  that  the 
negotiations  should  by  all  means  be  opened  here,  or  at  least  in 
Holland,  if  this  is  not  rendered  impracticable  from  the  nature 
of  the  commission.  If  this  has  unfortunately  been  limited  to 
treating  of  peace  at  Gottenburg,  which  seems  highly  improb 
able,  there  is  no  remedy.  But  if  the  commission  admits  of  a 
change  of  place,  I  would  feel  no  hesitation  in  removing  them  at 
least  to  any  other  neutral  place,  whatever  may  be  the  language 
of  the  instructions.  For  their  spirit  would  be  fully  answered 
by  treating  in  any  other  friendly  country  as  well  as  if  at  Got 
tenburg.  On  that  point  I  feel  great  anxiety,  because,  on  ac 
count  of  the  late  great  changes  in  Europe,  and  of  the  increased 
difficulties  thence  arising  in  making  any  treaty,  I  do  believe 
that  it  would  be  utterly  impossible  to  succeed  in  that  corner, 
removed  from  every  friendly  interference  in  our  favor  on  the 
part  of  the  European  powers,  and  compelled  to  act  with  men 
clothed  with  limited  authorities  and  who  might  at  all  times 
plead  a  want  of  instructions. 

You  are  sufficiently  aware  of  the  total  change  in  our  affairs 
produced  by  the  late  revolution  and  by  the  restoration  of  uni- 
versal  peace  in  the  European  world,  from  which  we  are  alone 
excluded.  A  well-organized  and  large  army  is  at  once  liberated 


1814.  LETTEES,    ETC.  607 

from  any  European  employment,  and  ready,  together  with  a 
superabundant  naval  force,  to  act  immediately  against  us.  How 
ill  prepared  we  are  to  meet  it  in  a  proper  manner  no  one  knows 
better  than  yourself;  but,  above  all,  our  own  divisions  and  the 
hostile  attitude  of  the  Eastern  States  give  room  to  apprehend 
that  a  continuance  of  the  war  might  prove  vitally  fatal  to  the 
United  States. 

I  understand  that  the  ministers,  with  whom  we  have  not  had 
any  direct  intercourse,  still  profess  to  be  disposed  to  make  an 
equitable  peace.  But  the  hope,  not  of  ultimate  conquest,  but 
of  a  dissolution  of  the  Union,  the  convenient  pretence  which 
the  American  war  will  afford  to  preserve  large  military  estab 
lishments,  and  above  all  the  force  of  popular  feeling,  may  all 
unite  in  inducing  the  Cabinet  in  throwing  impediments  in  the 
way  of  peace.  They  will  not,  certainly,  be  disposed  to  make 
concessions,  nor  probably  displeased  at  a  failure  of  negotiations. 
That  the  war  is  popular,  and  that  national  pride  inflated  by  the 
last  unexpected  success  cannot  be  satisfied  without  what  they 
call  the  chastisement  of  America,  cannot  be  doubted.  The  mass 
of  the  people  here  know  nothing  of  American  politics  but 
through  the  medium  of  Federal  speeches  and  newspapers  faith 
fully  transcribed  in  their  own  journals.  They  do  not  even 
suspect  that  we  have  any  just  cause  of  complaint,  and  consider 
us  altogether  as  the  aggressors  and  as  allies  of  Bonaparte.  In 
those  opinions  it  is  understood  that  the  ministers  do  not  partici 
pate;  but  it  will  really  require  an  effort  on  their  part  to  act 
contrary  to  public  opinion ;  and  they  must,  even  if  perfectly 
sincere,  use  great  caution  and  run  some  risk  of  popularity.  A 
direct  or  at  least  a  very  near  intercourse  with  them  is  therefore 
highly  important,  as  I  have  no  doubt  that  they  would  go  farther 
themselves  than  they  would  be  willing  to  intrust  any  other  per 
son.  To  this  must  be  added  that  Lord  Castlereagh  is,  according 
to  the  best  information  I  have  been  able  to  collect,  the  best-dis 
posed  man  in  the  Cabinet,  and  that  coming  from  France  and 
having  had  intercourse  with  the  Emperor  Alexander,  it  is  not 
improbable  that  those  dispositions  may  have  been  increased  by 
the  personal  expression  of  the  Emperor's  wishes  in  favor  of 
peace  with  America.  Whatever  advantages  may  be  derived 


608  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1814. 

from  that  circumstance  and  from  the  Emperor's  arrival  here 
would  be  altogether  lost  at  Gottenburg. 

I  have  confined  my  letter  to  this  single  point,  and  hoping 
soon  to  hear  from  you  and  from  Mr.  Russell,  to  whom  you  will 
present  my  best  compliments,  I  remain,  dear  sir,  respectfully 
and  affectionately,  your  friend  and  servant. 


CLAY   TO   BAYARD   AND    GALLATIN. 

GOTTENBURG,  2d  May,  1814. 

Colonel  Milligan,  arriving  here  the  evening  before  last,  deliv 
ered  to  me  Mr.  Bayard's  letter  of  the  20th  ult.  to  Mr.  Russell 
and  myself,  and  that  of  Mr.  Gallatin  of  the  22d  to  me  alone. 
I  was  much  gratified  in  being  relieved  by  them  from  the  uncer 
tainty  in  which  I  was  placed  as  to  your  movements  and  prospects. 
On  your  part  you  will  have  been  extricated,  prior  to  the  receipt 
of  this  letter,  from  a  more  perplexing  embarrassment,  partic 
ularly  in  respect  to  Mr.  Gallatin,  as  to  the  new  commission,  by 
the  despatch  forwarded  by  Captain  Jones  in  the  Neptune.  It 
would  have  been  highly  satisfactory  to  me  to  have  been  assisted 
by  our  colleagues,  Messrs.  Adams  and  Russell,  in  deliberating 
upon  the  contents  of  your  letters.  But  the  latter  gentleman  left 
this  place  on  the  25th.  The  object  of  his  visit  was  to  present 
his  credentials  and  to  establish  those  relations  with  the  Swedish 
government  which  may  be  deemed  expedient,  intending  to  return 
to  this  place  the  moment  he  should  learn,  by  your  arrival,  that 
his  presence  was  necessary.  Of  Mr.  Adams  I  have  no  informa 
tion  except  what  is  contained  in  the  following  paragraph  of  Mr. 
RusselPs  letter:  "  Mr.  Speyer  received  this  morning  (26th  April) 
a  letter  from  Mr.  Adams,  dated  the  llth  of  the  month,  in  which 
he  says  he  proposes  to  leave  St.  Petersburg  about  the  20th  of  this 
month,  and  hopes  to  arrive  somewhere  in  Sweden  by  the  1st  of 
May,  probably  at  Stockholm.  His  route,  he  says,  will  depend 
on  the  thermometer  of  the  next  ten  days."  Mr.  Russell  adds 
that  he  shall  endeavor  to  be  ready  to  accompany  Mr.  Adams 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  609 

should  he  pass  by  Stockholm  to  Gottenburg.     Being  without 
the  benefit  of  consulting  with  either  Mr.  Adams  or  Mr.  Russell, 
I  have  given  to  the  subject  of  your  letter  the  best  consideration 
in  my  power.    With  regard  to  changing  the  place  of  negotiation, 
it  appears  to  me  to  be  a  measure  attended  with  some  difficulty, 
and  requiring,  on  our  part,  great  delicacy.     Before  Mr.  Russell 
left  this  place,  we  learnt  that  the  British  charge"  d'affaires  at 
Stockholm  had  presented,  on  the  9th  of  April,  a  note  to  the 
Swedish  government  informing  it  of  the  contemplated  negotia 
tion  here,  and  asking  its  sanction  to  the  measure.     It  was  an 
obvious  duty  on  the  part  of  the  representative  of  our  govern 
ment  to  solicit  also  from  Sweden  the  hospitalities  requisite  to  our 
condition  here,  and,  although  Mr.  Russell  had  no  particular  in 
struction  to  that  effect,  he  intended,  with  my  advice,  to  present  a 
note  on  the  occasion  the  moment  he  was  accredited.    This  I  have 
no  doubt  he  has  done.    The  Swedish  government,  thus  officially 
informed  by  both  parties  of  the  intended  negotiation  here,  must 
see  with  surprise,  if  with  no  other  emotion,  another  place  so 
quickly  substituted  for  Gottenburg.      I  need  not  inform  you 
that  our  government  counts  much  upon  the  friendship  of  the 
Northern   powers,  particularly  Russia  and  Sweden.     And  al 
though  I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Crown  Prince  has  lost  in  the 
scale  of  European  affairs  much  of  his  weight  by  the  great  events 
which  he  has  himself  contributed  to  produce,  we  ought  not  lightly 
to  jeopardize  his  friendship.     But  it  is  highly  probable  that  the 
President,  had  he  foreseen  what  has  occurred  since  the  date  of 
our  instructions,  would  have  deemed  Holland  equally  eligible 
with  this  place,  if  not  more  so.      A.nd  I  am  prepared  in  this 
instance,  and  in  all  others,  to  give  to  our  instructions  a  liberal 
interpretation,  with  a  view  to  the  wonderful  revolutions  which 
have  recently  occurred.     If,  therefore,  any  place  in  Holland  can 
be  substituted  for  Gottenburg  in  such  manner  as  that  the  change 
shall  be  understood  to  be  at  the  instance  of  Great  Britain,  you 
have  my  consent  to  make  it.     Being  thus  brought  about,  such 
explanations  may  be  made  to  Sweden  as  will  not  only  retain 
to  us  her  friendship,  but  cast  upon  the  other  party  all  the  un 
friendly  consequences,  should  there  be  any,  growing  out  of  the 
measure.     I  enclose  herein  an  extract  of  a  letter  I  forwarded 
VOL.  i. — 10 


610  WKITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

this  morning  to  Mr.  Russell,  to  put  him  in  possession  of  the 
proposed  change,  and  of  ray  views  of  it. 

"With  regard  to  going  to  London,  with  great  deference  for  the 
opinion  of  Mr.  Gallatin,  I  really  cannot  concur  in  that  measure. 
If  there  be  a  doubt  as  to  what  our  government  has  done  to  restore 
peace,  it  cannot  lie  on  the  side  of  its  having  done  too  little.  A 
power  of  less  pretensions  than  the  United  States  might  with 
great  propriety,  after  the  rejection  of  the  Russian  mediation, 
have  demanded  that  its  own  seat  of  government  should  be  the 
theatre  for  discussing  propositions  for  peace.  Having  waived 
this,  and  acceded  to  one  of  the  alternatives  offered  by  the  other 
party,  I  do  not  think  that  we  ought  to  submit  to  further  con 
descension,  especially  when  we  have  yet  to  see  in  British  history 
the  example  of  that  haughty  people  having  been  conciliated  by 
the  condescension  of  their  enemy.  I  am  deeply  sensible  of  the 
magnitude  of  the  present  crisis,  which  I  have  endeavored  to 
view  in  all  its  consequences,  immediate  and  remote.  And  the 
result  of  my  reflections  is  that  we  shall  best  promote  the  objects 
of  our  mission  and  acquit  ourselves  of  our  duty  by  preserving  a 
firm  and  undismayed  countenance.  We  have  the  chances  in 
our  favor  of  the  Continental  negotiations  which  are  or  will 
shortly  be  going  on.  It  is  impossible  that  Europe,  liberated  as 
it  is  from  the  despotism  of  Bonaparte,  should  be  indifferent  to 
the  enormous  power  and  the  enormous  pretensions  of  Great 
Britain  on  the  ocean.  It  'will  assuredly,  I  presume,  impose 
some  limits  on  her.  If  she  is  wise  she  will  readily  acquiesce  in 
them.  The  sympathy  which  she  derived  from  the  world  gen 
erally,  under  the  supposition  that  she  was  contending,  for  her 
existence  and  struggling  for  their  liberties,  has  ceased.  If,  in 
toxicated  by  her  present  prosperity,  she  rejects  the  counsels  of 
moderation  and  prudence,  that  which  Bonaparte  attempted  by 
compulsion  will  be  accomplished  by  the  voluntary  consent  of 
Europe.  But  I  forbear;  indeed,  I  ought  to  apologize  for  touch 
ing  at  all  on  a  subject  on  which  you  are  so  much  more  competent 
to  judge.  From  the  letter  of  Mr.  Bayard  I  remark  that  it  is 
thought  by  you  proper  that  we  should  make  some  official  com 
munication  to  the  British  government  of  our  arrival  here.  The 
embarrassment  which,  even  if  Mr.  Russell  had  been  here,  a 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  gH 

minority  of  the  commission  must  have  felt  on  this  subject,  is 
greatly  increased  by  my  standing  alone.  It  seems  to  me  in  the 
first  place  that,  having  been  invited  here  by  the  British  govern 
ment,  that  government  ought,  by  the  promptitude  of  its  own 
measures,  to  have  rendered  unnecessary  such  a  notification  on 
our  part.  Waiving,  however,  this  point  of  etiquette  (and  I  cer 
tainly  am  not  going  during  this  negotiation  to  give  consequence 
to  any  affair  of  mere  etiquette),  what  could  I  alone,  one  of  five 
who  compose  the  commission,  say  to  accelerate  the  movements 
of  the  other  party?  It  has,  therefore,  appeared  to  me  most 
advisable  to  transmit  to  you,  which  I  now  do,  copies  of  the  new 
commissions  and  of  the  new  instructions  which  our  government 
has  issued,  and  to  submit  to  you  the  making  of  such  communica 
tion  as  may  be  adapted  to  the  occasion ;  and  I  authorize,  if  you 
deem  it  at  all  necessary,  any  use  whatever  of  my  name  in  rela 
tion  to  it.  The  packages  and  letters  which  we  brought  for  you 
from  America  are  sent  by  Colonel  Milligan,  and  Mr.  Hughes, 
the  secretary  of  the  mission,  who  accompanies  him.  .  .  . 


GALLATIN  AND   BAYARD  TO  MONROE. 

LONDON,  6th  May,  1814. 

It  is  much  to  be  apprehended  that  the  great  and  unexpected 
events  which  have  so  entirely  changed  the  state  of  affairs  in 
Europe  may  have  a  serious  effect  on  the  nature  and  aspect  of 
the  war  carried  on  by  Great  Britain  against  the  United  States, 
as  well  as  on  the  proposed  negotiations  for  peace.  A  convention 
has  already  been  signed  between  France  and  the  allies  for  the 
suspension  of  hostilities  and  for  the  restoration  of  prisoners.  It 
is  said  and  believed  that  the  articles  of  a  definitive  treaty  of 
peace  between  all  the  European  powers  have  been  chiefly  agreed 
upon,  and  the  treaty  is  expected  to  be  concluded  in  a  few  weeks. 
This  state  of  things,  and  the  security  derived  by  Great  Britain 
from  the  restoration  of  the  Bourbons  on  the  throne  of  France 
and  from  the  expulsion  of  Bonaparte  to  Elba,  put  at  the  dis 
position  of  this  government  the  whole  of  their  force  heretofore 


612  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

employed  against  France.  It  might  also  be  inconvenient  here 
to  reduce  suddenly  the  army  and  navy  to  a  peace  establish 
ment,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  if  the  war  continues,  as 
great  a  portion  of  that  disposable  force  as  will  be  competent 
to  the  objects  of  the  British  government  will  be  employed  in 
America. 

The  complete  success  obtained  by  this  country  in  their  Euro 
pean  contest  has  excited  the  greatest  popular  exultation,  and  this 
has  been  attended  with  a  strong  expression  of  resentment  against 
the  United  States.  Extravagant  projects  and  hopes  of  success 
are  entertained.  The  restriction  of  our  commerce  and  fisheries 
is  said  to  have  been  the  subject  of  petitions  to  the  Ministry ;  the 
curtailment  of  our  northern  boundary  and  an  exclusive  right  to 
navigate  the  Lakes  are  suggested ;  and  even  a  division  of  the 
Union  is  expected  from  a  continuance  of  the  war.  The  popular 
feeling  is  evidently  strongly  in  favor  of  the  prosecution  of  the 
war  against  us.  This  sentiment  is  universal,  and  so  powerful 
that  it  will  be  difficult  for  ministers  to  control  it  should  they  be 
disposed  to  peace.  Having  no  direct  intercourse  with  any  mem 
ber  of  the  Cabinet,  our  information  as  to  its  disposition  or  views 
is  necessarily  imperfect  and  uncertain.  There  is,  however,  no 
reason  to  doubt  that  peace  may  be  had ;  but  it  seems  certain 
that  whatever  modifications  in  the  practice  of  impressment  may 
be  obtained,  the  point  itself  will  not  be  conceded.  On  this  sub 
ject  the  opposition  and  the  whole  nation  support  the  Ministry. 
It  is  true  that  the  restoration  of  peace  in  Europe  has  for  the 
present  reduced  the  conflicting  rights  and  pretensions  of  the  two 
countries  on  that  subject  to  little  more  than  questions  of  abstract 
rights,  which  might  at  this  moment  remain  undecided  without 
material  prejudice  to  the  interest  of  either  party ;  but  we  have 
reason  to  believe  that  the  Ministry  is  more  disposed  to  an  arrange 
ment  of  the  subject  with  a  view  to  prevent  what  is  called  the 
abuses  of  the  practice  than  to  pass  it  over  in  silence.  We  think 
that  we  may  at  all  events  distinctly  state  that  for  our  govern 
ment  the  alternative  only  remains  either  to  resolve  on  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  war  under  an  expectation  of  probable  success, 
or  to  forego  for  the  present  the  assertion  of  our  rights  on  what 
was  the  principal  remaining  object  of  the  war. 


1814.  LETTEES,    ETC.  613 

No  persons  have  as  yet  been  appointed  on  the  part  of  this 
government  to  conduct  the  negotiation  at  Gottenburg.  Having 
received  an  intimation  that  an  official  communication  would  be 
expected  of  the  appointment  of  commissioners  on  our  part  and 
of  their  arrival  in  Europe  before  an  appointment  would  be 
made  by  this  government,  we  despatched  a  messenger  to  Got 
tenburg  to  Messrs.  Clay  and  Russell,  who  we  expect  will  enable 
us,  in  the  course  of  a  few  days,  to  make  the  official  notification 
which  is  suggested  to  be  required.  As  soon  as  there  is  a 
probability  of  our  being  shortly  followed  by  the  British  com 
missioners,  we  shall  not  fail  to  repair  to  the  rendezvous  agreed 
upon. 

Conceiving  that  the  negotiation  could  be  conducted  with  more 
facility  and  despatch  in  Holland  than  at  Gottenburg,  and  pre 
suming  that  if  the  neutrality  of  Holland  had  been  known  in 
America  when  the  place  was  fixed  upon  it  would  have  been 
preferred,  we  have  undertaken  to  recommend  to  Messrs.  Clay 
and  Russell,  if  our  powers  leave  us  a  discretion  on  the  subject, 
to  transfer  the  seat  of  negotiation  to  Amsterdam  or  the  Hague, 
which  wre  are  allowed  to  say  would  meet  with  the  concurrence 
of  this  government.  The  good  dispositions  of  the  Prince  of 
Orange  towards  our  country  are  marked  by  his  prompt  appoint 
ment  of  a  minister  to  our  government,  and  we  have  reason  to 
believe  that  he  would  freely  contribute  any  friendly  offices  in 
his  power  to  the  re-establishment  of  peace. 

We  are  also  of  opinion  that  under  existing  circumstances 
England  would  in  every  point  of  view  be  at  present  preferable 
for  the  seat  of  negotiation  to  any  other  place.  These  circum 
stances  may,  however,  vary,  and  we  beg  leave  to  suggest  the 
propriety  of  authorizing  the  commissioners  of  the  United  States 
to  remove  those  negotiations  to  any  place  which  in  their  judgment 
may  appear  most  proper  for  insuring  their  successful  issue. 


014  WEITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 


W.  H.  CRAWFORD   TO    THE   UNITED   STATES    COMMISSIONERS. 

PARIS,  13th  May,  1814. 

GENTLEMEN, —  .  .  .  Expectations  have  been  entertained  by 
the  government,  and  you  no  doubt  have  participated  in  them, 
that  the  Emperor  Alexander  would  interest  himself  in  the  nego 
tiation  between  us  and  our  enemy.  This  expectation  I  am  con 
vinced  will  be  wholly  disappointed.  Shortly  after  the  arrival 
of  the  allies  in  Paris,  I  called  upon  Count  Nesselrode,  but  was 
informed  that  he  was  attending  the  Emperor  in  council.  I  left 
my  card,  and  proceeded  to  the  hotel  of  the  King  of  Prussia,  and 
carded  the  person  whose  duty  it  was  to  present  persons  of  dis 
tinction  to  the  King.  Some  time  after,  I  called  on  Count  Nes- 
selrode  again,  who  sent  me  word  by  my  valet  that  he  was  en 
gaged  at  the  council-table  and  was  quite  in  despair  at  not  being 
able  to  see  me.  Pursuant  to  the  advice  and  opinion  of  the 
Danish  minister,  I  addressed  a  note  to  the  Count,  requesting 
an  interview,  and,  foreseeing  that  his  engagements  might  prevent 
his  compliance  with  this  request,  I  desired  him  to  communicate 
to  the  Emperor  my  wish  to  be  presented  to  a  monarch  who  had 
given  such  strong  proofs  of  friendship  to  the  United  States.  To 
this  note  I  have  received  no  answer.  In  my  interviews  with 
the  Count  la  Forest  I  thought  I  discovered  the  most  friendly 
disposition  towards  the  United  States.  I  asked  him  whether  I 
should  have  to  wait  for  new  letters  of  credence  before  I  could 
engage  seriously  in  the  discussion  of  our  claim  to  indemnity 
with  the  new  government.  He  thought  there  would  be  no  ne 
cessity  for  this  delay,  but  said  the  question  would  be  settled  im 
mediately  after  the  King  arrived.  This  day  week  the  Monitor 
announced  that  on  the  next  day  the  King  would  receive  in  the 
hall  of  his  throne  the  ambassadors  near  his  Majesty.  I  had  an 
interview  with  La  Forest  in  the  course  of  the  day,  who  thought 
I  ought  to  attend.  I  told  him  that  he  was  the  proper  person  to 
decide  that  question,  and  that  I  could  not  go  without  an  express 
invitation  from  him.  He  insisted  that  the  Grand  Master  of 
Ceremonies  was  the  proper  person  to  whom  I  ought  to  address 
myself. 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  615 

He  desired  me  to  send  him  a  note  simply  by  way  of  inform 
ing  him  of  my  name  and  station,  and  that  I  would  be  presented 
of  course.  I  refused  to  go  to  the  palace  unless  I  was  assured  in 
writing  that  I  should  be  presented.  I  finally  agreed  to  write  a 
note  to  the  Grand  Master  of  Ceremonies  and  request  an  answer. 
This  was  done,  and  no  answer  was  received.  I  mention  these 
circumstances  to  show  that  the  King  and  his  minister  do  not 
feel  the  same  friendly  disposition  to  the  United  States.  Some 
time  since,  the  minister  told  me  that  Lord  Castlereagh  had  sub 
mitted  to  him  observations  upon  the  difference  of  treatment  be 
tween  American  and  British  vessels  in  the  ports  of  France.  He 
afterwards  read  to  me  a  report  which  he  intended  to  submit  to 
the  King,  proposing  that  the  prizes  of  both  belligerents  might 
be  condemned  and  sold  in  the  ports  of  France.  He  said  he  was 
afraid  this  proposition  would  not  be  acceptable  to  the  English 
minister.  If  the  proposition  should  be  rejected,  he  would  pro 
pose  that  the  prizes  of  both  belligerents  should  be  brought  in 
and  remain  without  adjudication  until  peace.  I  saw  him  two 
days  ago,  when  he  informed  me  that  every  interview  between 
him  and  the  British  minister  afforded  new  proofs  of  the  most 
extreme  hostility  on  the  part  of  the  minister  to  the  United 
States.  In  the  course  of  the  conversation  I  mentioned  as  wholly 
unworthy  of  credit  the  reports  circulated  in  Paris  of  engagements 
on  the  part  of  the  King  to  aid  England  in  the  prosecution  of 
the  war  against  the  United  States.  He  said  that  in  an  interview 
with  the  King  he  undertook  to  amplify  the  bad  effects  resulting 
from  the  fabrication  of  false  reports  by  referring  to  the  para 
graph  in  the  newspapers  stating  that  the  allied  powers  had  by 
a  secret  convention  engaged  not  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  the 
United  States,  and  that  the  King  of  France  was  to  make  the 
same  engagement.  The  King  promptly  replied  that  he  came  to 
the  throne  as  free  from  all  conditions  from  foreign  powers  as 
was  the  crown  which  he  wore.  The  Count  said  that  he  did  not 
care  what  effect  these  reports  might  have  upon  the  minds  of  the 
few  Americans  in  the  trading  cities  of  France,  but  he  should 
deeply  regret  that  they  should  reach  the  United  States  and  have 
a  tendency  to  depress  the  public  mind.  He  is  extremely  anxious 
that  the  negotiation  should  open  immediately  and  progress  rap- 


WHITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

idly.  He  believes  the  duration  of  the  European  peace  depends 
substantially  upon  the  adjustment  of  our  difference  with  Eng 
land.  After  I  had  failed  in  obtaining  access  to  the  Emperor  of 
Russia  and  to  his  minister,  I  requested  General  La  Fayette  to 
endeavor,  through  Colonel  La  Harpe,  to  have  the  proper  repre 
sentations  made  to  Nesselrode  or  to  the  Emperor.  Every  eifort 
to  effect  this  object  has  been  abortive.  It  seems  as  if  there  had 
been  a  settled  determination  to  prevent  the  approach  of  every 
person  who  is  suspected  of  an  attachment  to  the  United  States. 
The  general  has,  however,  come  in  contact  several  times  with 
Baron  Humboldt,  the  Prussian  minister,  who  has  imbibed 
already- fffe~*!pritish  misrepresentations. 

The  general  asked  him  if  his  particular  friend  should  have 
a  quarrel  with  a  man  who  was  known  to  be  engaged  in  a  con 
test  which  indirectly  affected  his  interests,  and,  notwithstanding 
this  circumstance,  this  person  should  propose  to  make  him  the 
umpire  jn-4fie  case,  and  his  friend  should  refuse  this  proposition, 
whertter  he  should  not,  without  further  inquiry  or  knowledge 
of  the  circumstances,  suspect  that  his  friend  was  wrong.  He 
replied,  certainly  he  should.  The  general  then  said  that  such 
was  the  case  with  the  United  States  and  England.  England 
had  refused  the  mediation  of  Russia  at  the  moment  he  was  re 
ceiving  her  money. '  After  the  publication  of  the  paragraph 
before  alluded  to,  the  Baron  told  the  general  that  the  paragraph 
was  untrue,  but  admitted  that  they  could  not  get  England  to 
treat  until  they  agreed  that  the  question  of  maritime  rights 
should  not  be  brought  into  discussion  of  the  general  peace.  He 
insisted,  however,  that  nothing  had  been  settled  in  relation  to 
the  United  States,  and  that  question  was  entirely  open.  Mr. 
Poletica  called  on  me  yesterday,  evidently  for  the  purpose  of 
contradicting  the  same  statement,  but  he  spoke  of  it  as  though 
we  had  conversed  upon  the  subject  before.  I  had  not  seen  him 
since  Saturday,  and  the  paragraph  did  not  appear  until  Sunday. 
I  took  no  notice  of  this  mistake;  admitted  that  it  might  be 
incorrect,  but  stated  what  I  believed  to  be  the  fact,  which  he 
seemed  disposed  to  admit.  I  stated  to  Count  la  Forest,  in  my 
last  interview  with  him,  my  conviction  that  this  statement  was 
not  without  foundation,  and  that  its  publication  in  the  Monkor 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  617 

was  something  like  an  official  declaration  of  the  policy  which 
the  French  government  intended  to  pursue.  He  said,  by  way 
of  repelling  this  idea,  that  the  Monitor  consisted  of  three  parts ; 
that  under  the  interior  head  it  was  official,  but  under  the  for 
eign  and  literary  heads  the  editor  acted  on  his  own  responsi 
bility.  I  have  discovered  no  change  in  the  character  of  the 
Monitor,  except  that  it  now  eulogizes  Louis  the  Eighteenth  in 
stead  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon ;  and  everybody  knows  that 
nothing  ever  appeared  under  the  foreign  head  without  author 
ity.  These  details  will,  I  think,  convince  you  that  there  is  no 
reason  to  expect  any  interference  on  the  part  of  the  Emperor  of 
Russia. 


BAYARD  AND  GALLATIN  TO  ADAMS,  CLAY,  A 

LONDON,  17th 

We  have  the  honor  to  acknowledge  the  receipt  of  Messrs. 
Clay  and  Russell's  joint  letter  of  20th  April,  and  of  Mr.  Clay's 
of  the  2d  of  May,  written  in  answer  to  that  of  Mr.  Bay 
ard  of  the  20th  April.  In  conformity  with  the  view  of  the 
subject  taken  by  Mr.  Clay,  we  simply  communicated  to  this 
government  our  joint  appointment  and  your  arrival  at  Gotten- 
burg,  leaving  to  them  to  make  any  proposal  they  might  think 
proper  for  a  change  in  the  place  of  negotiation.  Copies  of  our 
note,  of  Lord  Bathurst's  answer,  and  of  our  reply  are  enclosed. 
You  will  perceive  that,  thinking  Ghent  free  from  objection,  and 
not  less  convenient  than  a  place  in  Holland,  we  have  acceded 
to  Lord  Bathurst's  proposal.  Some  advantage  may  be  derived 
from  having  evinced  a  conciliatory  disposition  on  that  subject, 
and  we  felt  no  hesitation  in  preferring  any  place  in  the  Nether 
lands  to  Gottenburg.  A  prompt  communication  between  the 
British  commissioners  and  their  government  may  have  the  effect 
to  facilitate  and  shorten  the  negotiations. 

In  regard  to  Sweden,  we  beg  leave  to  observe  that,  however 
favorable  her  general  disposition  may  be,  she  cannot  at  this  mo 
ment  interpose  any  good  offices  on  our  behalf,  being  no  longer 


613  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

wanted  by  the  allies,  whilst  she  needs  the  active  assistance  of 
this  country  in  order  to  obtain  the  possession  of  Norway.  We 
will  thank  you  to  favor  us  with  an  early  answer,  directed  under 
cover  of  Mr.  Beasley,  and  to  inform  us  of  the  time  at  which 
you  expect  to  reach  Ghent,  which  may  probably  enable  us  to 
hasten  the  departure  of  the  British  commissioners  and  prevent 
any  delay  in  the  opening  of  the  negotiations.  In  case  we  should 
have  left  London  before  the  arrival  of  your  letter,  Mr.  Beasley 
will  transmit  it  to  us  on  the  Continent. 


BAYARD   AND    GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

LONDON,  23d  May,  1814. 

We  have  the  honor  to  inform  you,  that  understanding  that  it 
was  the  intention  of  the  British  government  to  postpone  the 
appointment  of  commissioners  to  treat  of  peace  till  they  had 
received  an  official  notification  of  the  appointment  of  commis 
sioners  on  the  part  of  the  United  States,  and  of  their  arrival 
in  Europe,  we  wrote  immediately  to  Messrs.  Clay  and  Russell, 
upon  hearing  of  their  arrival  at  Gottenburg,  requesting  them 
to  make  the  communication.  Upon  the  return  of  the  messen 
ger,  we  received  from  Mr.  Clay,  Mr.  Russell  being  absent  at 
Stockholm,  copies  of  our  commissions,  which  we  transmitted 
to  the  British  Department  of  State  for  Foreign  Affairs,  with  a 
note,  dated  the  13th  day  of  May,  addressed  to  Lord  Castlereagh. 
On  the  16th  of  May  we  received  an  answer,  signed  by  Lord 
Bathurst,  containing  an  assurance  that  commissioners  would  be 
forthwith  appointed  on  the  part  of  his  Majesty's  government, 
and  proposing  that  Ghent  in  the  Low  Countries  should  be  sub 
stituted  in  place  of  Gottenburg  as  the  seat  of  the  negotiation. 
Considering  this  change  as  promising  some  advantages  and  in 
no  degree  repugnant  to  the  principle  upon  which  Gottenbnrg 
was  agreed  upon,  and  thinking  it  advisable  to  give  the  earliest 
proof  of  a  disposition  to  accommodate,  we  did  not  hesitate  in  ac 
ceding  to  the  proposition,  and  we  signified  our  assent  in  a  note 
dated  17th  inst.,  addressed  to  Lord  Bathurst.  Copies  of  these 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC. 

several  notes  accompany  this  despatch.  We  have  written  to 
Messrs.  Adams,  Clay,  and  Russell  "apprising  them  of  this  new 
arrangement,  and  requesting  them  to  repair  to  Ghent,  to  which 
place  we  are  about  to  proceed. 


W.  H.   CRAWFORD   TO   THE   UNITED   STATES   COMMISSIONERS. 

PARIS,  24th  May,  1814. 

GENTLEMEN, — The  return  of  Mr.  Poletica  to  London  offers 
a  safe  conveyance  for  this  communication.  I  have  but  little  to 
add  to  my  letter  of  the  13th  instant.  A  few  days  past  I  was 
informed  by  a  friend  that  if  I  would  draw  up  a  short  statement 
of  the  reciprocal  causes  of  complaint  between  the  United  States 
and  England,  that  he  would  cause  it  to  be  laid  before  the  Em 
peror  of  Russia.  This  statement  would  not  be  communicated 
to  the  Count  Nesselrode,  or  to  any  of  the  Emperor's  officers,  as 
they  are  believed  to  be  in  the  interests  of  England.  In  conse 
quence  of  this  intimation  I  drew  up  a  statement,  a  copy  of  which 
is  enclosed.  It  was  to  have  been  presented  to  the  Emperor  yes 
terday.  I  do  not  expect  any  beneficial  result  from  it.  The  in 
junction  of  brevity,  which  was  thought  to  be  indispensable  to 
secure  its  perusal,  and  a  sense  of  national  dignity,  prevented  the 
introduction  of  observations  tending  to  repel  the  charge  of  sub 
serviency  to  the  views  of  the  Emperor  Napoleon.  I  understand 
that  the  ministers  of  the  three  allied  powers  have  affected  to 
consider  the  war  between  America  and  England  as  the  result  of 
this  subserviency.  I  will  not  intrude  upon  your  time  by  in 
quiring  whether  this  opinion  is  real  or  only  affected  to  cover  the 
apathy  which  is  affected  by  them  for  the  event  of  the  contest  for 
maritime  rights  in  which  we  are  engaged.  Perhaps  I  should 
not  have  excluded  this  topic  if  I  had  anticipated  any  beneficial 
result  from  the  measure.  , 


620  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1814. 


LA   FAYETTE   TO    GALLATIN. 

PARIS,  25th  May,  1814. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  the  care  you 
have  been  pleased  to  take  of  my  patents,  and  still  more  grateful 
for  the  beneficial  kindness  I  have  experienced  from  you  in  the 
whole  course  of  that  transaction.  The  munificence  of  Congress, 
its  importance  to  me,  the  assent  of  the  people,  and  the  goodness 
of  my  friends  shall  ever  live  in  my  heart  as  objects  of  the  most 
happy  feelings.  Let  me  hope,  my  dear  sir,  you  will  not  leave 
Europe  before  I  have  had  the  satisfaction  to  express  the  sense 
I  have  of  my  obligations  to  you,  and  all  the  sentiments  which 
made  me  your  affectionate  friend  before  I  had  the  honor  of  a 
personal  acquaintance. 

You  have  done  me  the  justice  to  think  of  the  patriotic  con 
cern  I  could  not  help  to  feel  for  the  United  States  amidst  the 
joys  and  congratulations  of  an  European  peace.  The  British 
Ministerial  papers  are  so  outrageous,  the  warlike  preparations  so 
threatening,  that  it  would  seem  the  soldiers  of  America,  young 
and  veterans,  have  nothing  left  to  do  but  to  join  their  colors  and 
again  to  fight  for  liberty  and  independence.  Yet  I  hope  the 
able  and  respectable  commission  from  the  United  States  will 
succeed  in  securing  for  her  the  blessings  of  a  timely  pacification. 

Mr.  Crawford  is  better  qualified  than  I  am  to  give  you  all 
the  information  from  this  quarter  which  relates  to  American 
concerns.  The  confidence  with  which  he  honors  my  zeal  has 
enabled  me  to  discuss  the  matter  with  some  influencing  charac 
ters  among  the  allied  generals  and  diplomates.  Two  of  the  lat 
ter  act  a  great  part  in  the  present  negotiations.  I  found  them 
well  acquainted  with  British  arguments  and  impressed  with 
British  prejudices,  which  convinced  me  that  care  had  been  taken 
to  influence  their  opinion.  I  have  endeavored  to  dispel  those 
notions  and  urge  the  propriety  of  a  general  intervention  of  the 
European  powers  to  insure  an  American  peace.  An  opportu 
nity  has  been  seeked,  which  I  am  bound  not  to  name,  for  put 
ting  directly  under  the  eyes  of  Emperor  Alexander  a  note  of 
Mr.  Crawford.  You  may  depend  it  has  been  faithfully  deliv- 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  621 

ered,  with  proper  comments,  along  with  a  letter,  the  copy  of 
which  Mr.  Crawford  has  desired  me  to  enclose.  I  expect  this 
evening  to  meet  the  Emperor  of  Russia  at  a  friend's  house,  and 
shall  try  to  obtain  some  conversation  on  the  subject.  How  could 
we  not  hope  for  a  peace  when  all  the  objects  of  litigation  are  at 
an  end  ?  Don't  you  think,  my  dear  sir,  that  peculiar  circum 
stance  is  for  the  United  States  an  honorable  way  to  get  out  of 
a  formidable  war  and  to  leave  no  excuse  to  the  enemy  for  the 
prosecution  of  it?  Permit  me  to  add  that  from  my  conversa 
tion  with  foreigners,  including  some  Englishmen,  I  have  had  to 
combat  the  idea  of  a  Bonapartian  partiality  imputed  to  the 
American  Cabinet,  and  that  my  explanations  on  the  subject 
have  been  such  as  to  furnish  new  arguments  to  such  of  those 
statesmen  as  may  be  disposed  in  our  favor. 

I  must  apologize  to  you,  my  dear  sir,  for  those  details,  which 
look  as  if  I  would  give  to  my  private  endeavors  an  undue  and 
exaggerated  importance.  But  the  cause  has  such  a  hold  of  my 
heart,  and  I  am  so  happy  in  the  hope  to  render  some  service  to 
it,  that  you  will  readily  excuse  me. 

The  newspapers  give  you  an  account  of  French  interior  poli 
tics,  with  this  diiference,  that  the  spirit  of  liberty  is  more  alive 
than  you  could  infer  from  the  addresses  and  paragraphs  to  which 
the  provisory  censure  upon  the  journals  does  not  permit  to  pub 
lish  proper  antidotes.  In  the  enclosed  collection  you  will  find 
what  has  hitherto  been  done  officially.  Commissioners  of  the 
King  are  now  debating  constitutional  articles  with  a  committee 
of  Senators  and  members  of  the  Legislative  Corps,  equally 
named  by  him.  But  the  last  resort  is  to  those  two  bodies  and 
the  public  opinion.  Some  good  pamphlets,  amidst  several  bad 
ones,  have  been  published.  I  am  so  taken  up  with  this  great 
concern  that  it  does  in  great  measure  divert  my  thoughts  from 
the  preliminaries  which  deprive  France  of  those  natural,  proper, 
well-earned  frontiers  which,  under  the  tricolor  cockade,  had  been 
secured,  I  thought,  forever. 

I  feel  a  lively  gratitude  for  the  obligations  conferred  on 
Victor  Tracy  by  my  friend  Mr.  Quincy  Adams.  His  family 
and  mine  partake  in  that  sentiment,  and  join  with  my  thanks 
for  your  particular  attentions  to  him. 


622  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1814. 

Begging  nry  best  respects  to  be  presented  to  your  worthy  col 
leagues,  I  have  the  honor  to  offer  you  the  assurances  of  my  high 
regard  and  grateful  attachment. 


W.  H.  CRAWFORD   TO    UNITED   STATES  COMMISSIONERS. 

PARIS,  28th  May,  1814. 

GENTLEMEN, — Since  my  letter  of  the  24th  instant  I  have  re 
ceived  the  enclosed  letter  from  General  La  Fayette,  which  may 
be  of  some  use  to  you.  He  feels  very  confident  that  the  exer 
tion  will  be  made.  I  presume  there  is  no  rational  ground  to 
doubt  it. 

I  think  the  strongest  argument  he  could  urge  would  be  the 
certainty  of  enlisting  all  the  maritime  states  against  England 
in  a  very  short  time  if  this  war  continues.  So  far  as  the  interest 
of  English  commerce  is  likely  to  be  directly  involved  in  the 
question,  I  imagine  it  has  been  well  understood  and  has  been 
maturely  considered. 

The  French  government  has  revoked  the  decision  of  the 
late  Emperor  permitting  American  armaments  in  the  ports  of 
France.  The  general  complexion  of  the  official  note  commu 
nicating  this  change  of  measures  is  friendly,  and  I  am  still  in 
hopes  that  if  the  war  continues,  the  condemnation  and  sale  of 
prizes  will  be  permitted  in  the  ports  of  France  to  both  bel 
ligerents.  Mr.  Poletica,  who  will  hand  you  this,  will  possibly 
be  able  to  inform  you  something  of  the  nature  of  the  treaty 
which  has  been  or  will  be  signed  before  the  departure  of  the 
allied  sovereigns.  Its  contents  have  not  transpired.  The  French 
nation  will  be  probably  dissatisfied  with  it,  even  if  it  is  reason 
able  and  just.  The  attempt  in  the  French  journals  of  Paris  to 
reconcile  them  to  it  has  a  tendency  to  irritate  the  national  feel 
ing,  not  simply  against  the  treaty,  but  against  the  King.  The 
object  of  the  journals  is  to  give  the  King  the  whole  credit  of 
the  peace,  by  representing  the  nation  as  being  conquered  and 
imploring  the  mercy  of  the  allied  sovereigns. 

This  is  wholly  indigestible  to  French  stomachs.     You  can- 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  623 

not  make  a  Frenchman  believe  that  he  is  conquered  as  long  as 
he  can  walk.  Europe  seems  to  be  engaged  in  making  and 
breaking  constitutions.  England  and  Eussia  are  perhaps  the 
only  nations  who  are  not  engaged  in  forming  or  overturning 
constitutions.  Certainly  great  changes  of  opinion  have  taken 
place  upon  this  subject  within  the  last  twenty  years.  The  news 
from  Spain  is  of  a  distressing  nature;  perhaps  it  is  not  very 
truly  represented,  as  it  is  at  least  probable  that  there  is  some 
thing  like  concert  between  the  sovereigns  of  this  and  that 
country. 

I  am,  gentlemen,  your  most  obedient  and  very  humble  servant. 


[Enclosure.] 

LA  FAYETTE  TO  W.  H.  CRAWFORD. 

26th  May,  1814. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  passed  the  last  evening  in  company  with 
the  Emperor  Alexander,  who,  however  prepossessed  in  his  favor, 
has  surpassed  my  expectations.  He  really  is  a  great,  good, 
sensible,  noble-minded  man,  and  a  sincere  friend  to  the  cause 
of  liberty.  We  have  long  conversed  upon  American  affairs. 
It  began  with  his  telling  me  that  he  had  read  with  much 
pleasure  and  interest  what  I  had  sent  him.  I  found  ideas  had 
been  suggested  that  had  excited  a  fear  that  the  people  of  the 
United  States  had  not  properly  improved  their  internal  situa 
tion.  My  answer  was  an  observation  upon  the  necessity  of 
parties  in  a  commonwealth,  and  the  assertion  that  they  were 
the  happiest  and  freest  people  upon  earth.  The  transactions 
with  France  and  England  were  explained  in  the  way  that 
although  the  United  States  had  to  complain  of  both,  the 
British  outrages  came  nearer  home,  particularly  in  the  affair 
of  impressments.  He  spoke  of  the  actual  preparation  and  the 
hostile  dispositions  of  England.  I  of  course  insisted  on  the 
rejection  of  his  mediation,  the  confidence  reposed  in  him  by  the 
United  States,  who  hastened  to  send  commissioners  chosen  from 
both  parties,  which  he  very  kindly  acknowledged.  He  said  he 
had  twice  attempted  to  bring  on  a  peace.  "  Do,  sir,"  said  I, 


624  WKIT1NGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

"  make  a  third  attempt.  It  must  succeed ;  ne  vous  arretez  pas 
en  si  beau  chemin.  All  the  objects  of  a  war  at  an  end,  the 
re-establishment  of  their  old  limits  can  the  less  be  opposed,  as 
the  Americans  have  gained  more  than  they  have  lost.  A  pro 
traction  of  the  war  would  betray  intentions  quite  perverse  and 
hostile  to  the  cause  of  humanity.  Your  personal  influence  must 
carry  the  point.  I  am  sure  your  Majesty  will  exert  it."  "  Well/' 
says  he,  "  I  promise  you  I  will.  My  journey  to  London  affords 
opportunities,  and  I  will  do  the  best  I  can."  I  told  him  I  had 
received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Gallatin,  now  in  London,  and  we 
spoke  of  him,  Mr.  Adams,  Mr.  Bayard,  and  the  two  new  com 
missioners.  I  had  also  other  occasions  to  speak  of  America; 
one  afforded  me  by  the  Swedish  Marshal  S tad i nek,  who  men 
tioned  my  first  going  over  to  that  country;  another  by  a  well- 
intentioned  observation  of  Madame  de  Stael,  that  she  had  received 
a  letter  from  my  friend  Mr.  Jefferson,  of  whom  he  spoke  with 
great  regard.  This  led  to  observations  relative  to  the  United 
States  and  the  spirit  of  monopoly  in  England,  extending  even 
to  liberty  itself.  The  Emperor  said  they  had  been  more  liberal 
in  Sicily  than  I  supposed  them.  I  did  not  deny  it;  but  ex 
pressed  my  fears  of  their  protecting  Ferdinand  against  the 
Cortes.  His  sentiments  on  the  Spanish  affairs  were  noble  and 
patriotic.  The  slave-trade  became  a  topic,  upon  which  he  spoke 
with  philanthropic  warmth.  ^Its  abolition  will  be  an  article  in 
the  general  peace. 

You  see,  my  dear  sir,  I  had  fully  the  opportunity  we  were 
wishing  for.  If  it  has  not  been  well  improved,  the  fault  is  mine. 
But  I  think  some  good  has  been  done ;  and  upon  the  promise 
of  a  man  so  candid  and  generous  I  have  full  dependence.  If 
you  think  proper  to  communicate  these  details  to  Mr.  Gallatin, 
be  pleased  to  have  them  copied.  He  spoke  very  well  of  him, 
and  seemed  satisfied  with  the  confidence  of  the  United  States 
and  the  choice  of  their  representatives  to  him.  By  his  last 
accounts  Mr.  Adams  was  at  St.  Petersburg.  The  particulars 
of  this  conversation  ought  not,  of  course,  to  be  published,  but 
you  will  probably  think  it  useful  to  communicate  to  the  com 
missioners. 

Most  truly  and  respectfully  yours. 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  625 


GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

LONDON,  2d  June,  1814. 

SIB, — Since  Mr.  Bayard's  and  my  joint  letter  of  23d  ult., 
announcing  to  you  that  the  negotiations  for  peace  would  take 
place  at  Ghent,  Mr.  Bayard  has  proceeded  to  that  city  by  way 
of  Paris.  I  have  remained  here  waiting  for  the  answers  of  our 
colleagues  at  Gottenburg,  and  will  depart  as  soon  as  I  know  that 
they  and  the  British  commissioners  are  on  their  way  to  the 
appointed  place.  The  definitive  treaty  of  European  peace  being 
signed  and  ratified,  Lord  Castlereagh  is  expected  here  this  day, 
and  the  Emperor  of  Russia  in  the  beginning  of  next  week. 

I  enclose  copy  of  an  extract  of  a  letter  of  Mr.  Crawford  to 
me.  I  may  add  that  I  have  ascertained  that  the  exclusion  of 
all  discussions  respecting  maritime  questions  and  of  any  inter 
ference  in  the  American  contest  was  one  of  the  conditions  pro 
posed  at  the  Chatillon  conferences,  and  I  have  reason  to  believe 
that  with  respect  to  the  first  point  a  positive,  and  in  the  other  at 
least  a  tacit  agreement  have  taken  place  in  the  late  and  final 
European  negotiations  at  Paris. 


GALLATIN  TO  MONROE. 

LONDON,  June  3,  1814. 

Sm,— I  had  in  April  last  written  to  Mr.  Crawford  urging 
the  necessity  of  obtaining  the  friendly  offices  of  the  Emperor  of 
Russia.  It  was  in  answer  that  he  wrote  the  letter  of  which  an 
extract  was  sent  in  mine  of  yesterday  to  you.  I  had  also  written 
to  General  La  Fayette  respecting  the  critical  situation  in  which 
the  United  States  were  placed  by  the  general  European  peace. 
I  have  this  moment  received  letters  from  both.  No.  1  is  an 
extract  from  Mr.  Crawford's  letter  of  24th  May,  in  his  own 
cipher.  No.  2,  in  my  cipher,  is  a  copy  of  so  much  only  of  his 
memoir  on  our  war,  presented  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  as 
respects  the  conditions  of  peace  suggested  by  him.  No.  3  is  an 

VOL.  I. — 41 


626  WKITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

extract  of  La  Fayette's  letter  to  me.  No.  4  is  the  translation  of 
so  much  of  his  note  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  as  respects  the 
terms  of  peace  as  above.  No.  5  is  an  extract  of  Mr.  Crawford's 
letter  of  28th  May  to  us.  No.  6  is  a  copy  of  La  Fayette's  letter 
to  him.  These  two  last  are  in  Mr.  Crawford's  cipher,  those 
parts  which  are  underlined  excepted,  which  are  in  my  own. 


LA  FAYETTE  TO  GALLATIN. 

PARIS,  June  3,  1814. 

MY  DEAR  SIR, — I  have  just  the  time  to  write  a  line  by  my 
friend  M.  de  Humboldt,  who  hopes  to  reach  London  before  you 
have  left  it.  M.  Poletica  having  taken  charge  of  Mr.  Craw 
ford's  despatches  and  a  letter  of  mine,  I  ought  to  refer  you  to 
them.  Here  is,  however,  another  copy  of  the  observations  which 
I  had  put  under  the  eyes  of  Emperor  Alexander,  while  I  trans 
mitted  to  him,  through  a  particular  friend,  the  excellent  and 
more  extensive  note  of  Mr.  Crawford.  His  letter  of  a  later 
date  than  mine  to  you  will  have  informed  you  that  I  had  the 
expected  conversation  with  the  Emperor  of  Russia  at  the  house 
of  Madame  de  Stael,  and  that  it  has  been  very  satisfactory.  He 
began  with  telling  me  he  had  read  with  much  pleasure  and  in 
terest  what  I  had  sent  to  him.  He  gave  me  all  the  time  to 
explain  away  the  allusions  and  insinuations  of  the  adversaries  to 
the  United  States,  and  kindly  positively  promised  he  would  take 
the  opportunity  of  his  journey  to  London  and  make  a  new  eager 
attempt  to  promote  a  peace.  I  have  had  the  matter  urged  again 
before  his  departure.  I  much  wish  you  and  Mr.  Adams,  with 
both  of  whom  he  is  personally  acquainted,  might  be  in  England 
during  his  short  stay  there.  I  am  sure  this  noble-minded  Alex 
ander  will  make  it  a  point  to  serve  us  in  the  critical  juncture. 
You  may  begin  the  conversation  with  thanking  him  for  the  in 
tention  to  do  so  to  the  best  of  his  power,  which  he  very  positively 
expressed  to  me.  Our  friend  Humboldt,  who  has  already  spoken 
to  hiin  on  the  subject,  would  be  happy  to  receive  your  directions 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  (527 

for  any  thing  in  his  power.    I  hasten  to  scribble  this  letter  to  be 
forwarded  by  him,  and  offer  you  my  respectful  attachment. 

I  have  had  the  pleasure  to  see  Mr.  Bayard,  who  is  arrived 
four  days  ago. 


GALLATIN  TO   MONBOE.i 

LONDON,  13th  June,  1814. 

SIR, — The  armament  fitted  against  America  will  enable  the 
British,  besides  providing  for  Canada,  to  land  at  least  15  to 
20,000  men  on  the  Atlantic  coast.  Whether  the  Ministry  be 
nevertheless  disposed  for  peace  a  few  weeks  will  determine.  It 
may  be  intended  to  continue  the  war  for  the  purpose  of  effecting 
a  separation  of  the  Union,  or  with  a  view  of  promoting  the  elec 
tion  of  a  President  of  the  Federal  party,  or  in  the  hope  of  im 
posing  conditions  which  will  curtail  the  territory,  the  fisheries, 
and  diminish  the  commerce  of  the  United  States;  but  even  with 
the  intention  of  a  speedy  and  equal  peace,  the  pride  and  vindic 
tive  passions  of  the  nation  would  be  highly  gratified  by  what 
they  would  consider  a  glorious  termination  of  the  war,  by  an 
expedition  that  may  console  them  for  the  mortification  of  naval 
defeats,  retrieve  the  disgrace  of  the  campaign  in  the  Chesapeake, 
and  cripple  the  naval  and  commercial  resources,  as  well  as  the 
growing  manufactures,  of  the  United  States.  To  use  their  own 
language,  they  mean  to  inflict  on  America  a  chastisement  that 
will  teach  her  that  war  is  not  to  be  declared  against  Great  Britain 
with  impunity.  This  is  a  very  general  sentiment  in  the  nation, 
and  that  such  are  the  opinions  and  intentions  of  the  Ministry 

was  strongly  impressed  on  the  mind  of  by  a  late  conver-'\ 

sation  he  had  with  Lord  Castlereagh.f  Admiral  Warren  also 
told  to  Levett  Harris,  with  whom  he  was  intimate  at  St.  Peters 
burg,  that  he  was  sorry  to  say  that  the  instructions  given  to  his 
successor  on  the  American  station  wrere  very  different  from  those 

1  "  Received  by  Secretary  of  State  subsequent  to  capture  of  Washington." 
Note  by  Mr.  Gal  latin. 


(jog  WEI  TINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

under  which  he  had  acted,  and  that  he  apprehended  that  very 
serious  injury  would  be  inflicted  on  America.  Knowing  the 
species  of  warfare  practised  under  him,  and  that  he  was  blamed 
for  the  inefficiency  and  not  on  account  of  the  nature  of  his  opera 
tions,  you  may  infer  what  is  now  intended.  Without  pretending 
to  correct  information  respecting  their  plan  of  campaign,  I  think 
it  probable  that  Washington  and  New  York  are  the  places  the 
capture  of  which  would  most  gratify  the  enemy,  and  that  Nor 
folk,  Baltimore,  and  the  collected  manufacturing  establishments 
of  the  Brandy  wine  and  Rhode  Island  are  also  in  danger.  The 
ostensible  object  everywhere  will  be  the  destruction  of  the  public 
naval  magazines  and  arsenals,  and  of  all  the  shipping,  whether 
public  or  private;  but  heavy  contributions,  plunder,  and  what 
ever  marks  a  predatory  warfare  must  be  expected,  unless  the 
ultimate  object  be  to  sever  the  Union,  demand  a  cession  of  terri 
tory,  &c.,  in  which  case  the  permanent  occupation  of  New  York 
or  some  other  important  tenable  point  will  probably  be  attempted 
instead  of  mere  destruction.  Whatever  may  be  the  object  and 
duration  of  the  war,  America  must  rely  on  her  resources  alone. 
From  Europe  no  assistance  can,  for  some  time,  be  expected. 
British  pride  begins,  indeed,  to  produce  its  usual  effect.  Seeds 
of  dissension  are  not  wanting.  Russia  and  England  may,  at 
the  approaching  Congress  of  Vienna,  be  at  variance  on  impor 
tant  subjects,  particularly  as  relates  to  the  aggrandizement  of 
Austria.  But  questions  of  maritime  rights  are  not  yet  attended 
to,  and  America  is  generally  overlooked  by  the  European  sov 
ereigns  or  viewed  with  suspicion.  Above  all,  there  is  nowhere 
any  navy  in  existence;  and  years  of  peace  must  elapse  before 
the  means  of  resisting  with  effect  the  sea  power  of  Great  Britain 
can  again  be  created.  In  a  word,  Europe  wants  peace,  and 
neither  will  nor  can  at  this  time  make  war  against  Great  Britain. 
The  friendly  disposition  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia,  and  a  just 
view  of  the  subject,  make  him  sincerely  desirous  that  peace  should 
be  restored  to  the  United  States.  He  may  use  his  endeavors  for 
that  purpose;  beyond  that  he  will  not  go,  and  in  that  it  is  not 
probable  he  will  succeed.  I  have  also  the  most  perfect  convic 
tion  that,  under  the  existing  unpropitious  circumstances  of  the 
world,  America  cannot,  by  a  continuance  of  the  war,  compel 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  629 

Great  Britain  to  yield  any  of  the  maritime  points  in  dispute,  and 
particularly  to  agree  to  any  satisfactory  arrangement  on  the  sub 
ject  of  impressment,  and  that  the  most  favorable  terms  of  peace 
that  can  be  expected  are  the  status  ante  bellum,  and  a  postpone 
ment  of  the  questions  of  blockade,  impressment,  and  all  other 
points  which  in  time  of  European  peace  are  not  particularly  in 
jurious;  but,  with  firmness  and  perseverance,  those  terms,  though 
perhaps  unattainable  at  this  moment,  will  ultimately  be  obtained, 
provided  you  can  stand  the  shock  of  this  campaign,  and  provided 
the  people  will  remain  and  show  themselves  united;  this  nation 
and  government  will  be  tired  of  a  war  without  object,  and  which 
must  become  unpopular  when  the  passions  of  the  day  will  have 
subsided  and  the  country  sees  clearly  that  America  asks  nothing 
from  Great  Britain.  It  is  desirable  that  the  negotiations  of 
Ghent,  if  not  productive  of  immediate  peace,  should  at  least 
afford  satisfactory  proof  of  this  last  point.  I  might  have  ad 
duced  several  facts  and  collateral  circumstances  in  support  of 
the  opinions  contained  in  this  letter,  but  you  know  I  would  not 
risk  them  on  light  grounds.  You  may  rest  assured  of  the  gen 
eral  hostile  spirit  of  this  nation  and  of  its  wish  to  inflict  serious 
injury  on  the  United  States;  that  no  assistance  can  be  expected 
from  Europe;  and  that  no  better  terms  of  peace  will  be  obtained 
than  the  status  ante  bellum,  <fec.,  as  above  stated.  I  am  less  posi 
tive,  though  I  fear  not  mistaken,  with  respect  to  the  views  of  the 
Ministry,  to  the  object  of  the  armament,  to  the  failure  of  the  Em 
peror's  interference,  and  to  the  consequent  improbability  of  peace, 
even  on  those  terms,  before  the  conclusion  of  this  year's  campaign. 
I  have  the  honor  to  be,  with  great  respect,  your  obedient 
servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   THE   EMPEROR   ALEXANDER.1 

If  the  British  government  sincerely  wishes  peace  with  Amer 
ica,  it  will  not  bring  forward  any  new  territorial  or  commercial 

1  "  Translation  of  an  official  note  (in  French)  presented  on  the  19th  June, 
1814,  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  by  Albert  Gallatin."   Note  by  Mr.  Gallatin. 


£30  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

pretension,  and  will  confine  itself  to  the  discussion  of  the  ques 
tions  which  gave  rise  to  the  war.  That  respecting  impressment 
of  seamen  on  board  American  vessels  is  the  only  one  which  pre 
sents  any  difficulty.  The  abstract  right  of  America  to  employ 
British  seamen,  or  of  Great  Britain  to  claim  her  own  subjects, 
needs  not,  however,  be  discussed.  Although  she  has  weakened 
it  by  permitting  them  to  migrate,  and  by  naturalizing  herself 
the  seamen  of  other  nations,  the  United  States  would  agree  not 
hereafter  to  employ,  even  on  board  their  merchant  vessels,  any 
seaman  subject  of  Great  Britain.  But  America  cannot  assent 
to  an  arrangement  acknowledging  the  right  of  England  to  do 
herself  justice  by  force,  by  seizing  on  the  high  seas  even  her 
own  seamen,  on  board  of  American  vessels.  Any  arrangement 
founded  on  that  basis  and  on  a  promise  to  repress  abuses  would 
ultimately  leave  the  American  vessels  at  the  mercy  of  England, 
without  giving  to  America  any  advantage  she  has  not  a  right 
to  enjoy  without  any  condition  on  her  part,  since  England,  not 
claiming  the  right  to  seize  American  seamen,  is  already  bound 
to  prevent  its  being  done  by  her  officers. 

With  respect  to  the  principle,  England  is  allowed,  when  she 
is  at  war,  to  visit  neutral  vessels  for  the  purpose  of  seizing  mer 
chandise  either  belonging  to  her  enemy,  or  considered  as  contra 
band  destined  for  her  enemy,  and  soldiers  or  other  combatants  in 
the  service  of  her  enemy.  But  she  never  had  before  claimed  the 
right  of  visiting  or  seizing,  under  the  pretence  of  retaking  what 
belonged  to  herself.  If  the  right  was  conceded  to  her  of  seizing, 
on  board  vessels  of  other  nations,  the  seamen  she  claims  as  be 
longing  to  her,  she  would  equally  have  that  of  seizing  merchan 
dise  claimed  by  her  subjects  as  belonging  to  them,  and  there 
would  no  longer  be  any  acknowledged  line  of  demarcation 
which  should  prevent  her  from  exercising  an  unlimited  juris 
diction  over  the  vessels  of  all  other  nations. 

The  great  interest  which  the  United  States  have  that  impress 
ment  should  cease,  and  also  to  create  a  navy  purely  national,  gives 
a  certain  pledge  of  their  faithfully  excluding  British  seamen  from 
their  service,  if  they  can  thereby  obtain  that  Great  Britain  shall 
cease  impressing  seamen  on  board  their  vessels.  England  only 
suspending  the  exercise  of  her  pretensions  without  renouncing 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  631 

them,  would  be  bound  only  so  long  as  America  faithfully  ful 
filled  her  engagement.  It  is,  however,  to  be  feared  that,  at  this 
moment  of  irritation,  the  British  government  will  not  agree  to 
this  arrangement,  against  which  there  is  another  not  publicly 
avowed  motive  of  opposition.  England,  not  losing  her  com 
merce  when  she  is  at  war,  always  wants  fifty  thousand  more  sea 
men  in  war  than  when  at  peace.  Far,  therefore,  from  wishing 
that  the  United  States  should  altogether  exclude  her  seamen 
from  their  service,  she  wishes,  on  the  contrary,  that  America 
would  (as  she  might  do  it  with  ease)  employ  twenty  thousand 
of  them  in  time  of  peace,  in  order  to  claim  them  when  at 
war,  and  thus  to  make  the  American  navy  subserve  in  a  most 
efficient  manner  to  the  aggrandizement  of  her  own  maritime 
power. 

Should  the  proposal  of  the  United  States  be  rejected,  the  only 
apparent  means  to  make  peace  is  a  postponement  of  the  discus 
sion  of  that  subject  to  a  more  favorable  time.  Maritime  ques 
tions  seem  to  fall  with  the  war;  and  it  is  above  all  desirable 
that  the  whole  civilized  world  may  breathe  and,  without  any 
exception,  enjoy  universal  peace.  But  if  the  United  States 
should  derive  no  positive  advantage  from  the  war,  they  will  at 
least  terminate  it  without  sacrifice  and  without  dishonor.  They 
would  not  assent  to  a  peace  requiring  from  them  a  cession  of 
territory,  restricting  their  commerce  or  rights  to  fisheries,  or 
compelling  them  to  recognize  the  pretensions  of  Great  Britain 
on  the  subject  of  impressment  or  of  the  other  disputed  maritime 
questions. 

Although  the  powerful  armament,  particularly  of  land  forces, 
sent  by  England  to  America  on  the  eve  of  opening  the  negotia 
tions  for  peace  may  create  a  suspicion  that  she  will  not  make  it 
but  on  inadmissible  terms,  it  is  yet  hoped  that  the  United  States 
may  be  indebted  for  that  blessing  to  the  liberator  and  pacifier  of 
Europe ;  but  should  even  the  efforts  of  his  Imperial  Majesty  to 
obtain  that  object  prove  fruitless,  America  will  ever  preserve  a 
feeling  recollection  of  this  and  of  the  several  other  proofs  which 
his  Majesty  has  given  her  of  his  friendly  regard. 


(332  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 


GALLATIN   TO  MONROE. 

LONDON,  20th  June,  1814. 

SIR, — On  the  llth  instant  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Clay, 
dated  at  Gottenburg  the  1st,  and  informing  me  that  he  would 
leave  it  on  the  next  day  and  proceed  by  land  to  Ghent,  leaving 
the  corvette  John  Adams  to  take  by  sea  Messrs.  Adams  and 
Russell,  then  at  Stockholm,  to  some  port  in  Holland.  Of  this 
I  gave  immediate  information  in  a  note  addressed  to  Lord  Cas- 
tlereagh,  and  requested  to  know  at  what  time  the  British  com 
missioners  might  be  expected  at  Ghent.  On  the  15th,  Mr. 
Hamilton,  Under-Secretary  of  State,  wrote  in  answer  a  note  to 
Mr.  Erving,  Mr.  Beasley's  agent,  informing  him  that  the  Brit 
ish  commissioners  would  leave  London  for  Ghent  on  or  about 
the  1st  day  of  July,  where  it  was  presumed  they  would  find  the 
American  commissioners  assembled.  This  does  not  bespeak  any 
wish  to  hasten  the  negotiations ;  but  I  must  add  that  it  has  been 
reported  to  me  that  the  instructions  for  their  commissioners  had 
been  delayed  till  Lord  Castlereagh's  return :  since  which,  and 
until  the  allied  sovereigns  will  have  departed,  he  cannot  have 
time  to  attend  to  the  subject.  It  is  rather  singular  that  Lord 
Liverpool,  on  being  asked  about  six  weeks  ago  whether  it  would 
not  be  preferable  as  tending  to  bring  the  negotiations  to  an  im 
mediate  issue  to  remove  their  seat  to  London,  answered  in  the 
negative.  Yet  the  substitution  of  Ghent  to  Gottenburg  will  be 
highly  beneficial  in  preventing  delays,  for  it  takes  three  weeks 
from  the  time  of  writing  hence  before  an  answer  is  received 
from  the  last  place,  even  when  your  correspondent  answers  im 
mediately.  Even  supposing  that  there  be  no  design  to  protract 
the  negotiations,  it  must  be  expected  that  new  instructions  will 
on  some  points  be  wanted  by  the  British  commissioners. 

Mr.  Harris  and  myself  had,  on  the  17th,  an  audience  from 
the  Emperor  of  Russia.  His  friendly  dispositions  for  the 
United  States  are  unimpaired :  he  earnestly  wishes  that  peace 
may  be  made  between  them  and  England ;  he  regrets  that  his 
eiforts  with  that  view  have  been  fruitless ;  but  he  does  not  give 
or  seem  to  entertain  any  hope  that  he  can  on  that  subject  be  of 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  633 

any  service.  I  could  not  ascertain  whether  he  had  touched  the 
subject  since  he  had  been  here ;  only  he  said,  "  I  have  made  two 
— three  attempts."  If  three,  the  third  must  have  been  now. 
He  added,  "England  will  not  admit  a  third  party  ^interfere 
in  her  disputes  with  you.  This  is  on  account  of  your  former 
relations  to  her  (the  colonial  state),  which  is  not  yet  forgotten.'7 
He  also  expressed  his  opinion  that  with  respect  to  conditions  of 
peace  the  difficulty  would  be  with  England,  and  not  with  us. 
On  the  whole,  this  conversation  afforded  no  reason  to  alter  the 
opinions  expressed  in  my  letter  of  13th  instant.  I  yesterday, 
with  his  permission,  sent  him  a  note,  which  I  have  not  time  to 
translate  and  put  in  cipher  by  this  opportunity,  but  which  con 
tains  nothing  new  to  you,  and  which  will  not  probably  produce 
any  effect. 

I  expect  to  leave  this  city  to-morrow  on  my  way  to  Ghent. 

21st  June.  I  had  forgotten  to  mention  that  I  had  advised 
Mr.  Harris,  who  was  on  his  way  to  the  United  States,  and  re 
ceived  here  the  account  of  his  being  left  as  charge*  d'affaires  at 
St.  Petersburg  during  Mr.  Adams's  absence,  not  to  return  there 
till  after  the  Emperor's  arrival  here.  He  has  been  very  useful, 
both  on  account  of  his  intimacy  and  standing  with  the  principal 
persons  near  the  Emperor,  who  likes  him,  and  in  obtaining 
information  from  persons  connected  with  the  British  Ministry. 
He  leaves  town  this  week  on  his  way  back  to  St.  Petersburg. 


GALLATIN   TO   R.  G.  BEASLEY. 

GHENT,  26th  July,  1814. 

DEAR  SIR, — Mr.  Adams  writes  to  you  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  for  the  John  Adams  a  passport  similar  in  form  to 
that  granted  for  the  Neptune;  that  is  to  say,  expressing,  if 
necessary,  the  object  of  the  voyage,  carrying  of  despatches,  and 
without  inserting  on  the  face  of  the  passport  the  implied  con 
dition  of  having  neither  cargo  nor  passengers;  for  which  our 


634  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

word,  the  character  of  the  ship,  and  the  captain's  commission, 
afford  sufficient  security. 

The  passport  granted  to  the  Neptune  is  for  carrying  back  to 
the  United  States  Messrs.  Bayard  and  Gallatin,  with  their  suite. 
Mr.  George  M.  Dallas  and  John  P.  Todd,  having  both  come 
with  me  in  the  Neptune  in  the  capacities  of  my  secretaries  as 
Minister  of  the  United  States,  are  therefore  both  embraced  in 
the  said  passport.  But,  having  no  further  occasion  for  their 
services,  and  the  mission  having  been  much  protracted  beyond 
our  expectations,  it  is  equally  my  wish  and  theirs  that  they 
should  return  home  in  the  John  Adams  instead  of  waiting  an 
indefinite  length  of  time  for  the  departure  of  the  Neptune. 
Under  those  circumstances,  and  since  they  have  already  a  gen 
eral  passport  for  another  vessel,  I  presume  that,  whether  the 
alteration  in  the  passport  of  the  John  Adams  be  granted  or  not, 
there  cannot  and  will  not  be  any  objection  to  granting  special 
passports  to  those  two  gentlemen  for  taking  their  passage  on 
board  the  last-mentioned  vessel,  the  John  Adams.  I  have 
therefore  to  request  that  you  will  make  the  application  to  the 
proper  authority  and  send  me  the  passports  for  them  at  the  same 
time  that  you  return  that  for  the  ship.  It  is  proper  to  add  that 
Mr.  Dallas  is  to  be  the  bearer  of  our  despatches  to  our  govern 
ment. 

In  a  confused  report  of  a  conversation  in  the  House  of  Com 
mons  on  the  20th  instant,  I  see  an  intimation  ascribed  to  Lord 
Castlereagh  that  the  delay  in  the  departure  of  the  British  com 
missioners  for  that  place  was  owing  to  my  remaining  in  Paris. 
This  would  have  been  no  apology,  since  a  majority  of  the 
American  commissioners  were  assembled  here  on  the  27th  ult.; 
but  the  assertion,  if  made,  was  erroneous,  and  unjustly  holds 
me  out  in  that  public  manner  to  my  government  and  country 
as  the  author  of  the  delay.  On  the  9th  of  June  I  addressed  a 
note  to  Lord  Castlereagh  informing  him  of  the  departure  of 
Mr.  Clay  from  Gottenburg;  that  Messrs.  Adams  and  Russell 
were  expected  to  follow  immediately,  and  that  Mr.  Bayard  and 
myself  being  ready  at  any  moment  to  repair  to  Ghent,  I  wished 
to  be  informed  of  the  time  when  the  British  commissioners 
might  be  expected  there.  On  the  15th  of  June,  Mr.  Hamilton 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  635 

wrote  to  Mr.  Irving  that  he  had  the  honor  to  inform  him,  in 
reference  to  Mr.  Gallatin's  note  to  Lord  Castlereagh,  that  the 
British  commissioners  would  leave  London  for  Ghent  on  or 
about  the  first  day  of  July,  where  it  was  presumed  they  would 
find  the  American  commissioners  assembled.  I  shaped  my 
course  in  conformity  with  that  information.  Had  the  British 
government  stated  that  their  commissioners  would  proceed  the 
next  week,  I  should  have  done  the  same.  They  designated  the 
first  of  July  as  the  probable  time  of  their  commissioners'  de 
parture  from  London;  and  calculating  the  journey  thence  to  this 
place  would  consume  four  or  five  days,  I  so  arranged  my  own 
as  to  arrive  here  on  the  6th  of  July.  From  that  day  I  have 
with  my  colleagues  waited  with  impatience  for  the  arrival  of 
the  British  commissioners.  I  wish  you  would  find  an  oppor 
tunity  to  express  to  Mr.  Hamilton  my  surprise,  such  being  the 
facts,  that  Lord  Castlereagh  should  have  made  an  assertion 
calculated  to  do  me  a  personal  injury.  I. am  not  at  liberty  to 
bring  those  details  before  the  public ;  but  I  request  you  to  have 
the  fact  inserted  in  one  of  the  newspapers  that  I  arrived  here 
on  the  6th  of  July,  and  that  a  majority  of  the  American  com 
missioners  had  been  here  since  the  27th  of  June. 


MME.  DE   STAEL   TO   GALLATIN. 

Ce  31  Juillet,  1814. 
COPPET,  SUISSE,  PAYS  DE  VAUD. 

Yous  m'avez  permis  de  vous  demander  si  vous  avez  quelque 
succes  heureux  a  espe>er  de  votre  mission.  Mandez-moi  a  cet 
6gard,  my  dear  sir,  tout  ce  qu'il  vous  est  permis  de  me  dire.  Je 
suis  inquiete  d'un  mot  de  Lord  Castlereagh  sur  la  duree  de  la 
guerre  et  je  ne  m'explique  pas  pourquoi  il  a  dit  qu'il  e"tait  de 
PinterSt  de  PAngleterre  que  le  CongrSs  de  Yienne  s'ouvrit  plus 
tard.  C'est  vous,  Amerique,  qui  m'inte'resse  avant  tout  mainte- 
nant,  a  part  de  mes  affaires  pe"cuniaires.  Je  vous  trouve  a  pre"- 
sent  les  opprime's  du  parti  de  la  liberte"  et  je  vois  en  vous  la  cause 
qui  m'attachait  a  PAngleterre  il  y  a  un  an.  On  souhaite  beau- 


636  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

coup  de  vous  voir  a  Geneve  et  vous  y  trouverez  la  Republique 
telle  que  vous  Favez  laisse"e,  seulement  elle  est  moins  libe"rale  car 
la  mode  est  ainsi  maintenant  en  Suisse.  Aussi  les  vieux  aristo- 
crates  se  reinvent  et  se  remettent  a  combattre,  en  oubliant,  comme 
les  geants  de  PArioste,  qu'ils  sont  dej&  morts.  J'espere  que  la 
raison  triomphera,  et  quand  on  vous  connait  on  trouve  cette  rai- 
son  si  spirituelle  qu'elle  semble  la  plus  forte.  Soyez  pacifique 
cependant  et  sacrifiez  aux  circonstances.  Vous  devez  vous  en- 
nuyer  a  Gand  et  je  voudrais  profiter  pour  causer  avec  vous  de  tout 
le  temps  que  vous  y  perdez.  Avez-vous  quelques  commissions 
a  faire  a  Geneve  et  voulez-vous  rne  donner  le  plaisir  de  vous 
y  etre  utile  en  quelque  chose  ?  Mille  compliments  empresses. 

Vous  savez  que  M.  Sismondi  vous  a  loue  dans  son  discours  a 
St.  Pierre. 


CRAWFORD   TO   GALLATIN. 

PARIS,  4th  August,  1814. 
MY  DEAE  SlE, —  ******* 

From  the  general  tenor  of  Mr.  Monroe's  letters  I  am  very 
much  afraid  that  they  have  not  expected  that  so  large  a  force 
would  be  sent  out  as  I  expect  there  has  been.  On  the  6th  of 
July,  when  Mr.  Caraman  sailed  from  New  York,  no  fortified 
camp  had  been  formed  on  Long  Island.  In  all  my  letters  to  the 
government  from  November  last,  I  endeavored  to  prepare  them 
for  the  employment  of  the  whole  force  which  the  enemy  had  em 
ployed  on  the  Continent  during  the  last  year  and  the  first  months 
of  the  present.  No  such  expectations,  however,  seem  to  be  enter 
tained.  They  had  received  yours  and  Mr.  Bayard's  communica 
tion,  in  which  you  suggested  the  probability  of  a  change  of  the 
place  of  negotiation. 

I  learn  by  a  private  letter  from  Charleston  that  Mr.  Cheves 
will  not  be  a  candidate  at  the  next  election  for  Congress,  on 
account  of  his  unpopularity.  Colonel  Dayton  is  stated  to  have 
resigned  his  commission  on  account  of  younger  officers  being 
promoted  over  him.  The  same  letter  speaks  of  Armstrong's 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  637 

pretensions  for  the  Presidency  as  likely  to  succeed  unless  you 
make  peace,  and  that  the  popularity  of  the  measure  should  be 
ascribed  to  Mr.  Adams,  in  which  event  he  would  probably  be 
successful.  The  writer  is  a  young  man,  and  rather  disposed 
to  indulge  in  very  uncertain  speculations  of  this  nature.  The 
letter,  however,  proves  that  these  gentlemen  have  partisans  in 
Charleston,  and  in  the  State  of  South  Carolina. 

This  letter  excepted,  I  have  received  no  news  but  what  is 
contained  in  the  Intelligencer,  which  is  the  only  paper  I  have 
received. 

Present  my  respects  to  Mr.  Dallas,  and  accept  for  yourself  the 
assurance  of  my  sincere  regard. 

P.S. —  Your  friend  Mr.  Warden  has  used  your  offer  to  assist 
him  in  returning  to  the  United  States  as  an  evidence  of  your 
zeal  in  his  favor,  and  has  employed  it  as  a  mean  of  obtaining 
letters  here  to  prop  him  up  in  the  United  States.  General  La 
Fayette  has  been  much  importuned  by  those  whom  he  has  con 
trived  to  enlist  in  his  cause.  It  is  through  him  that  I  learned 
the  use  he  is  making  of  your  offer. 


GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

GHENT,  20th  August,  1814. 

Sm, — The  negotiations  at  this  place  will  have  the  result  which 
I  have  anticipated.  In  one  respect,  however,  I  had  been  mis 
taken.  I  had  supposed,  whilst  in  England,  that  the  British 
Ministry  in  continuing  the  war  yielded  to  the  popular  senti 
ment,  and  were  only  desirous  of  giving  some  eclat  to  the 
termination  of  hostilities,  and  by  predatory  attacks  of  inflicting 
gratuitous  injury  on  the  United  States.  It  appears  now  certain 
that  they  have  more  serious  and  dangerous  objects  in  view.  On 
these  I  will  not  dwell,  as  they  are  sufficiently  explained  by  our 
public  despatches,  and  will  only  observe  that  the  capture  of 
Moose  Island,  and  the  manner  of  taking  possession,  accord  with 
the  general  scope  of  their  demands  here.  But  I  beg  leave  to 


638  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

advert  to  the  effect  which  those  views,  now  fully  disclosed,  may 
have  on  the  manner  of  conducting  the  war. 

The  British  will  naturally  attempt  the  conquest  of  what  they 
wish  to  acquire  by  the  peace.  They  will  make  great  efforts  in 
Canada  with  respect  to  the  possession  of  Lakes  Ontario  and 
Erie,  for  the  recapture  of  Detroit,  and  for  the  support  of  the 
Indians,  so  as  to  derive  from  the  status  quo  some  claim  to  what 
they  already  demand.  And  your  attention  will  be  naturally 
drawn  to  that  quarter,  and,  amongst  other  objects,  to  a  vigorous 
prosecution  of  the  Indian  war,  which,  by  a  total  expulsion  of 
the  adjacent  tribes,  or  by  compelling  them  to  make  peace,  will 
remove  every  pretext  for  what  is  now  made  a  sine  qua  non,  and, 
indeed,  afford  an  opportunity  to  Great  Britain  to  desist  (without 
retracting)  from  that  preliminary.  It  is  not  improbable  that 
their  warfare  on  our  Atlantic  shore  will  be  on  a  smaller  scale 
than  I  had  conjectured,  and  may  be  confined  to  desultory  attacks 
made  successively  on  several  points,  for  the  purpose  principally 
of  distracting  our  defensive  measures  and  of  diverting  a  con 
siderable  part  of  our  force  from  the  points  of  real  and  serious 
attack.  It  appears  to  me  most  likely  that  their  true  and  imme 
diate  object  is  New  Orleans.  They  well  know  that  it  is  our 
most  distant  and  weakest  point,  and  that  if  captured  it  could 
not  be  retaken  without  great  difficulty.  If  successful  in  other 
quarters,  there  is  no  possession  which,  as  a  sugar  colony,  as  a 
port  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  as  commanding  all  our  Western 
country  both  in  a  political  and  in  a  commercial  view,  they  would 
be  more  desirous  of  holding.  If  less  successful  in  Canada  than 
they  expect,  New  Orleans  would  be  made  a  set-off,  and  its  resti 
tution  to  depend  on  our  compliance  with  their  demands  in  the 
North. 

You  will  also  perceive  that  they  would  hardly  have  any  other 
object  in  view  when  they  gave  in  their  official  note  the  formal 
intimation  that  if  we  did  not  now  sign  a  treaty,  Great  Britain 
would  not  be  precluded  from  the  right  of  varying  her  demands 
according  to  the  state  of  the  war  at  the  time  oif  resuming  the 
negotiations. 

Finally,  the  expedition  ready  to  sail  under  Lord  Hill  in  the 
beginning  of  September  cannot,  it  seems,  considering  the  season 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  639 

of  the  year,  have  any  other  object  but  Louisiana.  It  is  evidently 
too  late  for  Canada,  and  even  for  all  our  Northern  coast.  There 
is  no  apparent  utility  for  them  in  an  attack  on  Charleston  or 
Georgia,  and  immense  advantages  to  be  derived  from  the  con 
quest  of  New  Orleans.  It  is  not  impossible  that  this  last  object 
may  be  connected  with  Florida,  the  cession  of  which  by  Spain 
to  England  is  possible. 

It  is  now  evident  that  Great  Britain  intends  to  strengthen  and 
aggrandize  herself  in  North  America.  Knowing  that  that  object 
would  be  fully  disclosed  by  her  proposals,  and  that  these  were 
inadmissible,  it  is  not  uncandid  to  suppose  that  her  object  in 
protracting  the  negotiations  has  been  to  delay  their  rupture  to 
the  very  moment  when  her  expedition  under  General  Hill  would 
be  ready  and  must  sail,  in  order  to  prevent,  as  far  as  practicable, 
our  taking  early  alarm  and  making  sufficient  preparations  to 
repel  the  attack. 

It  is  highly  probable  that  our  struggle  will  be  longer  and  more 
arduous  than  I  had  anticipated.  I  believe  the  other  views  I  had 
given  you  respecting  Europe  to  be  correct.  We  cannot  expect 
assistance  from  any  quarter  on  our  own  account.  An  earlier 
renewal  of  war  here  than  had  been  conjectured  is  not  impos 
sible,  and  would  operate  in  our  favor.  It  is  an  event  which  we 
cannot  in  any  respect  control,  and  of  which,  without  relying 
on  it,  we  must  be  ready  to  take  advantage  whenever  it  may 
happen. 

Mr.  Dallas  is  the  bearer  of  our  despatches.  I  have  told  him 
that  I  expected  government  would  pay  his  expenses  from  this 
place  to  the  Helder,  and  those  of  his  passage  and  provisions  on 
board  the  John  Adams.  He  will  accordingly  state  and  transmit 
his  account  to  you. 

I  do  not  expect  that  we  can  be  detained  more  than  two  or 
three  weeks  longer,  for  the  purpose  either  of  closing  the  negotia 
tion,  of  taking  every  other  necessary  step  connected  with  it,  and 
of  making  all  the  arrangements  for  our  departure.  In  the  hope 
of  having  the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  again  very  soon,  I  have,  &c. 

I  do  not  know  to  what  the  British  commissioners  allude  in 
their  note  of  yesterday,  when  they  say  that  their  government 


640  WETTINGS    OF    GALL  ATI  N.  1814. 

has  forborne  to  press  certain  points  on  which  they  had  a  right 
to  insist,  unless  it  be  to  a  recognition  of  their  assumed  right  of 
impressment. 


GALLATIN    TO    MONROE. 

GHENT,  26th  October,  1814. 

Our  negotiations  have  been  protracted  longer  than  I  had 
expected  or  than  was  desirable.  The  only  advantage  arising 
from  it  is  that  a  change  in  Europe  or  a  reverse  of  the  British 
in  America  might  alter  their  views  and  produce  a  peace;  that 
whilst  we  continue  here  it  may  be  made  at  any  time,  if  any 
such  contingency  should  happen,  and  that,  considering  distance 
and  irritation,  a  renewal  of  negotiations  once  broken  would  be 
attended  with  much  delay  and  difficulty,  even  if  Great  Britain 
became  sincerely  disposed  to  peace. 

With  respect  to  the  Indian  article,  my  only  motive  for  as 
senting  to  it — and  I  believe  that  it  was  the  same  with  my  col 
leagues — was  that  having  little  hope  of  peace,  I  thought  it  much 
more  favorable,  with  respect  to  public  opinion  in  the  eastern 
part  of  the  Union,  that  we  should  break  on  other  grounds,  and 
particularly  on  that  of  territorial  rights,  than  on  that  of  Indian 
pacification.  Considering  that  we  may  still  be  detained  longer 
than  we  calculate,  it  seems  important  that  you  should  imme 
diately  send  us  instructions  on  that  subject  and  on  the  other 
points,  either  not  heretofore  contemplated,  or  which  may  require 
reconsideration.  Permit  me  to  mention  some  of  them:  1st.  We 
principally  rest  on  the  basis  of  status  ante  helium.  Would  it 
be  proper  to  break  on  the  point  of  trading  with  the  Indians 
granted  to  the  British  by  the  treaty  of  1794  ?  The  non-renewal 
by  our  present  instructions  is  a  sine  qua  non.  2d.  The  right  of 
preserving  our  naval  force  on  the  Lakes  to  any  extent  we  please 
is  also  a  sine  qua  non  by  our  instructions.  Supposing  the  Brit 
ish  to  propose  a  mutual  restriction  in  that  respect,  either  partial 
or  total,  should  we  still  adhere  to  the  sine  qua  non?  3d.  After 
the  declaration  of  the  British  respecting  fisheries,  are  we  to 
insist  on  our  rights  as  defined  by  the  treaty  of  1783  being 


1814.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  64]. 

renewed,  or  rest  on  our  construction  of  that  treaty  ?  My  idea 
was  to  make  a  similar  declaration  on  our  part  respecting  the 
British  privilege  of  navigating  the  Mississippi,  derived  from 
the  same  treaty,  and  to  let  both  be  renewed  or  fall  together. 
4th.  Is  it  indispensable,  if  we  should  agree  to  the  northwestern 
boundary  from  the  Lake  of  the  Woods  to  the  Mississippi,  to 
provide  for  the  northern  boundary  of  Louisiana,  or  to  insert  a 
proviso  that  the  article  shall  not  aifect  said  boundary?  or  may 
we  safely  rest  on  our  right  to  the  country  without  referring  to 
it?  If  we  fix  a  boundary  for  Louisiana,  what  should  it  be? 
In  giving  instructions  on  that  point,  I  think  that  the  ultimatum 
should  be  a  line  including  all  the  waters  of  the  Mississippi  and 
Missouri.  5th.  If  Great  Britain  should  agree  to  a  mutual  res 
toration  of  territory  everywhere,  with  the  single  exception  of 
the  settlement  on  Columbia  River,  what  must  we  do?  And 
generally,  what  should  be  our  conduct  and  claims  respecting 
the  country  between  the  Rocky  Mountains  and  the  Pacific 
Ocean  ?  6th.  With  respect  to  Maine,  I  believe  the  British  will 
insist  on  the  islands  in  the  Passamaquoddy  Bay  as  of  right 
belonging  to  them.  We  have  no  documents  to  rebut  their 
claim.  May  we  agree  to  the  appointment  of  commissioners  to 
decide  on  the  claim?  How  should  they  be  constituted?  and 
must  we,  in  that  case,  insist  on  the  restitution  of  the  islands 
till  the  question  is  settled  ?  7th.  The  British  also  want  in 
the  same  district  the  country  watered  by  St.  John's  River, 
which  forms  the  northern  part  of  said  district.  In  case  that, 
as  already  suggested,  they  should  insist  that  there  is  uncer 
tainty  in  the  line,  can  we  likewise  agree  to  the  appointment  of 
commissioners?  If  they  propose  an  exchange,  how  far  can  we 
agree  to  it?  My  reason  for  putting  this  last  query  is,  that 
although  Massachusetts  has  taken  possession  of  the  whole 
country,  she  has  no  claim  to  any  part  of  the  territory  north 
of  45  degrees  of  north  latitude  and  east  of  the  Penobscot  or 
Kennebec  River  (I  do  not  recollect  which).  That  territory  of 
right  belongs  to  the  Union,  as  acquired  by  the  treaty  of  1783. 
Yet,  considering  the  undisturbed  possession  by  Massachusetts, 
it  would  be  a  delicate  question  to  exchange  without  her  con 
sent,  even  for  a  fair  equivalent.  8th.  If  a  maritime  war  should 
VOL.  i. — 42 


642  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 

be  renewed  in  Europe,  what  must  we  do  on  the  subject  of  im 
pressment  ? 

We  have  certainly  no  means  of  giving  you  information  on 
the  points  of  attack  contemplated  by  the  British.  Their  con 
duct  in  occupying  the  country  east  of  Penobscot  requires  no 
comment.  I  still  believe  that  their  principal  object  is  Loui 
siana.  If  strong  enough,  they  may  also  occupy  the  Southern 
ports,  from  St.  Mary's  as  far  north  as  they  can,  for  the  double 
purpose  of  obtaining  cotton  and  of  having  territory  in  their 
hands  for  which  to  ask  equivalents  when  making  peace.  The 
defence  of  New  Orleans,  the  repossession  of  the  country  east  of 
Penobscot,  the  subjugation  and  pacification  of  the  Indians,  and 
'the  conquest  of  enough  in  Canada  to  have  also  something  to 
restore,  appear  important  objects  with  a  view  to  the  terms  of 
peace. 

No  loan  can  be  obtained  in  Europe,  and  our  financial  resources 
will  be  deficient.  I  will,  without  apology,  state  the  principles 
on  which  it  seems  to  me  that  we  can  go  with  least  inconve 
nience.  Difficulties  and  objections  in  any  plan  you  must  expect. 
1st.  To  carry  the  revenue  to  the  greatest  extent  which  the  people 
will  bear.  Indirect  internal  taxes  to  be  preferred.  2d.  To  limit 
the  nominal  loans  to  the  extent  which  can  be  obtained,  and  to 
be  previously  ascertained  as  far  as  practicable,  and  not  to  bor 
row  stock  at  a  rate  exceeding  in  any  shape  8  per  cent.  3d.  To 
apply  exclusively  the  moneys-  arising  from  those  two  sources — 
loans  and  revenue — to  the  payments  of  the  civil  list,  interest  of 
public  debt,  and  pay  and  support  of  the  regular  army  and  navy, 
and  of  the  militia  employed  in  offensive  operations.  The  essen 
tial  objects  must  be  first  provided  for,  and  some  distinct  line 
drawn  between  what  you  will  pay  in  money  or  provide  for 
otherwise.  4th.  Not  to  increase  the  amount  of  Treasury  notes 
receivable  in  payment  of  taxes  and  payable  one  year  after  date, 
but,  in  order  to  supply  deficiencies,  to  issue  notes  payable  also 
to  bearer,  but  not  receivable  in  taxes,  and  reimbursable  at  a 
longer  period,  if  possible  one  year  after  peace,  and  having  such 
an  interest — from  six  to  eight  per  cent. — as  will  prevent  too 
great  a  depreciation.  These  may,  if  the  war  continues,  be 
funded  in  part  annually,  when  a  loan  is  opened.  5th.  To 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  643 

authorize  the  States,  within  such  limitations  as  may  be  thought 
proper,  to  raise  State  troops  for  self-defence,  which,  as  well  as 
the  militia  called  for  defensive  purposes,  should  be  paid  and 
supported  by  the  States  respectively,  the  United  States  reim 
bursing  ultimately  the  expense  by  stock  or  by  instalments  after 
the  war,  or  in  any  other  mode  which  may  be  devised.  States 
not  providing  as  aforesaid  would  be  left  by  their  neglect  with 
out  sufficient  defence.  6th.  If  the  preceding  suggestion  is  not 
adopted,  a  superabundant  issue  of  paper  will  take  place,  which 
I  fear  will  be  fatal.  Still,  in  that  case  the  notes  bearing  interest, 
or  stock  by  loans  on  bad  terms,  appear  preferable  to  paper  money, 
so  called.  In  case  States  be  not  resorted  to,  will  not  a  local  force, 
as  I  had  formerly  proposed,  be  more  efficient  and  cheaper  than 
large  and  sudden  calls  of  militia  ?  My  plan  was  to  raise  men 
for  local  defence,  to  be  trained  and  kept  encamped  or  in  forts  by 
turns,  say  one-fourth  part  at  a  time,  to  be  liable  to  be  called  as 
minute-men  in  service  whenever  required,  and  to  be  paid  only 
when  in  actual  service.  But  I  perceive  that  my  zeal  carries  me 
out  of  my  sphere.  I  had  left  a  plan  for  a  bank ;  also  that  of 
making  lands  instrumental  in  procuring  loans,  by  way  of  lottery. 
I  think  the  last  scheme  might  be  useful.  But  it  may  be  too 
late  for  a  bank,  and  subscribers  may  not  perhaps  be  obtained. 
Of  that  those  on  the  spot  must  judge.  With  my  conjectures  on 
European  affairs  I  will  not  trouble  you.  I  do  not  think  that 
the  British  are  apprehensive  of  a  renewal  of  the  war.  They  are 
hated  everywhere,  and  I  think  that  we  begin  to  grow  popular. 
We  are  certainly  so  here,  and  the  destruction  of  the  public  build 
ings  at  Washington  has  produced  a  considerable  sensation  against 
England,  though  its  capture,  and  without  sufficient  defence,  has 
been  injurious  to  the  opinion  entertained  of  our  strength  or 
abilities.  We  have  ordered  the  Neptune  to  Brest ;  we  will  join 
her  by  land,  and  whence  we  may  sail  with  more  convenience 
at  an  advanced  or  early  season.  Antwerp  is  also  liable  to  be 
frozen  up. 


(344  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1814. 


GALLATIN   TO   THE  SECRETARY   OF    THE   TREASURY. 

GHENT,  24th  December,  1814. 

SIR, — Our  bankers  at  Amsterdam  informed  me  at  the  begin 
ning  of  November  that  no  remittances  for  the  payment  of  the 
dividend  due  1st  January  next  at  Amsterdam  on  the  Louisiana 
stock  had  yet  reached  them.  To  my  inquiry  whether  they 
would  advance  the  money  in  case  the  remittances  did  not  arrive 
in  time,  they  answered  in  the  negative,  and  complained  that 
they  were  already  280,000  guilders  in  advance  for  the  diplo 
matic  fund.  I  then  wrote  to  Messrs.  Baring  to  ascertain 
whether  they  had  received  remittances,  and,  in  case  they  had 
not,  how  far  they  and  their  friends,  the  house  of  Hope,  at  Am 
sterdam,  might  be  disposed  to  advance  the  money.  Mr.  A. 
Baring  wrote  me  on  the  same  subject  before  the  receipt  of  my 
letter.  Finding  he  hesitated,  I  applied  to  Mr.  Iselin,  of  the 
house  of  Le  Roy,  Bayard  &  M.  Evans,  of  New  York,  to  make 
the  necessary  advance.  He  offered  to  advance  200,000  guilders, 
"at  46  cents  per  guilder;  and  I  was  on  the  point  of  proposing  to 
him,  instead  of  46  cents,  the  rate  of  exchange  that  might  exist 
in  America  at  the  time  of  his  being  paid  there  by  the  Treasury, 
when  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Baring  informing  me  that  he 
would  make  the  necessary  advances  in  Amsterdam.  I  send 
copies  of  his  letters,  by  whicli  you  will  perceive  the  necessity 
of  further  remittances  to  him.  You  will  owe  him  400,000 
guilders  advanced  in  Holland,  and  a  large  sum  for  seamen  and 
prisoners.  When  these  are  released,  their  support  till  shipped 
will  be  still  more  expensive  than  their  allowance  whilst  in 
prison. 

P.S. — The  Amsterdam  bankers  are  also  very  anxious  to  be 
reimbursed  of  their  advances  on  account  of  the  diplomatic  fund. 


1814.  LETTERS,    ETC.  545 

GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

GHENT,  December  25,  1814. 

SIR, — The  treaty  of  peace  we  signed  yesterday  with  the  Brit 
ish  ministers  is,  in  my  opinion,  as  favorable  as  could  be  expected 
under  existing  circumstances,  so  far  as  they  were  known  to  us. 
The  attitude  taken  by  the  State  of  Massachusetts,  and  the  ap 
pearances  in  some  of  the  neighboring  States,  had  a  most  unfa 
vorable  effect.  Of  the  probable  result  of  the  congress  at  Vienna 
we  had  no  correct  information.  The  views  of  all  the  European 
powers  were  precisely  known  from  day  to  day  to  the  British 
Ministry.  From  neither  of  them  did  we  in  any  shape  receive 
any  intimation  of  their  intentions,  of  the  general  prospect  of 
Europe,  or  of  the  interest  they  took  in  our  contest  with  Great 
Britain.  T  have  some  reason  to  believe  that  all  of  them  were 
desirous  that  it  might  continue.  They  did  not  intend  to  assist 
us;  they  appeared  indifferent  about  our  difficulties;  but  they 
rejoiced  at  anything  which  might  occupy  and  eventually  weaken 
our  enemy.  The  manner  in  which  the  campaign  has  termi 
nated,  the  evidence  afforded  by  its  events  of  our  ability  to  resist 
alone  the  now  very  formidable  military  power  of  England,  and 
our  having  been  able,  without  any  foreign  assistance,  and  after 
she  had  made  such  an  effort,  to  obtain  peace  on  equal  terms,  will 
raise  our  character  and  consequence  in  Europe.  This,  joined 
with  the  naval  victories  and  the  belief  that  we  alone  can  fight 
the  English  on  their  element,  will  make  us  to  be  courted  as 
much  as  we  have  been  neglected  by  foreign  governments.  As 
to  the  people  of  Europe,  public  opinion  was  most  decidedly  in 
our  favor.  I  anticipate  a  settlement  with  Spain  on  our  own 
terms,  and  the  immediate  chastisement  of  the  Algerines.  Permit 
me  to  suggest  the  propriety  of  despatching  a  squadron  for  that 
purpose  without  losing  a  single  moment.  I  have  little  to  add 
to  our  public  despatch  on  the  subject  of  the  terms  of  the  treaty. 
I  really  think  that  there  is  nothing  but  nominal  in  the  Indian 
article  as  adopted.  With  respect  to  precedents,  you  will  find 
two,  though  neither  is  altogether  in  point,  viz. :  the  article  of 
the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  and  the  latter  part  of  the  article  of  our 


646  WRIT  INGS     OF     GALL  AT  IN.  1814. 

treaty  with  Spain.  You  know  that  there  was  no  alternative 
between  breaking  off  the  negotiations  and  accepting  the  article, 
and  that  we  accepted  it  only  as  provisional  and  subject  to  your 
approbation  or  rejection.  The  exception  of  Moose  Island  from 
the  general  restoration  of  territory  is  the  only  point  on  which  it 
is  possible  that  we  might  have  obtained  an  alteration  if  we  had 
adhered  to  our  opposition  to  it.  The  British  government  had 
long  fluctuated  on  the  question  of  peace :  a  favorable  account 
from  Vienna,  the  report  of  some  success  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
or  any  other  incident,  might  produce  a  change  in  their  disposition; 
they  had  already,  after  the  question  had  been  referred  to  them, 
declared  that  they  could  not  consent  to  a  relinquish  men  t  of  that 
point.  We  thought  it  too  hazardous  to  risk  the  peace  on  the 
question  of  the  temporary  possession  of  that  small  island,  since 
the  question  of  title  was  fully  reserved,  and  it  was  therefore  no 
cession  of  territory.  On  the  subject  of  the  fisheries  within  the 
jurisdiction  of  Great  Britain,  we  have  certainly  done  all  that 
could  be  done.  If,  according  to  the  construction  of  the  treaty 
of  1783,  which  we  assumed,  the  right  was  not  abrogated  by  the 
war,  it  remains  entire,  since  we  most  explicitly  refused  to  re 
nounce  it  directly  or  indirectly.  In  that  case  it  is  only  an  un 
settled  subject  of  difference  between  the  two  countries.  If  the 
right  must  be  considered  as  abrogated  by  the  war,  we  cannot 
regain  it  without  an  equivalent.  We  had  none  to  give  but  the 
recognition  of  their  right  to  navigate  the  Mississippi,  and  we 
offered  it  on  this  last  supposition.  This  right  is  also  lost  to 
them,  and  in  a  general  point  of  view  we  have  certainly  lost  no 
thing.  But  we  have  done  all  that  was  practicable  in  support  of 
the  right  to  those  fisheries,  1,  by  the  ground  we  assumed  respect 
ing  the  construction  of  the  treaty  of  1783;  2,  by  the  offer  to 
recognize  the  British  right  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi ; 
3,  by  refusing  to  accept  from  Great  Britain  both  her  implied 
renunciation  to  the  right  of  that  navigation  and  the  convenient 
boundary  of  49  degrees  for  the  whole  extent  of  our  and  her  ter 
ritories  west  of  the  Lake  of  the  Woods,  rather  than  to  make  an 
implied  renunciation  on  our  own  part  to  the  right  of  America 
to  those,  particular  fisheries.  I  believe  that  Great  Britain  is 
very  desirous  of  obtaining  the  northern  part  of  Maine,  say  from 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC. 

about  47  north  latitude  to  the  northern  extremity  of  that  dis 
trict  as  claimed  by  us.  They  hope  that  the  river  which  emp 
ties  into  Bay  des  Chaleurs,  in  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  has  its 
source  so  far  west  as  to  intervene  between  the  head- waters  of  the 
river  St.  John  and  those  of  the  streams  emptying  into  the  river  //* 
St.  Lawrence :  so  that  the  line  north  from  the  source  of  the 
river  St.  Croix  will  first  strike  the  heights  of  land  which  divide 
the  waters  emptying  into  the  Atlantic  Ocean  (river  St.  John's) 
from  those  emptying  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  (River  des 
Chaleurs),  and  afterwards  the  heights  of  land  which  divide  the 
waters  emptying  into  the  Gulf  of  St.  Lawrence  (River  des  Cha 
leurs)  from  those  emptying  into  the  river  St.  Lawrence;  but 
that  the  said  line  never  can,  in  the  words  of  the  treaty,  strike 
any  spot  of  land  actually  dividing  the  waters  emptying  into  the 
Atlantic  Ocean  from  those  which  fall  into  the  river  St.  Law 
rence.  Such  will  be  the  foundation  of  their  disputing  our  claim 
to  the  northern  part  of  that  territory ;  but,  feeling  that  it  is  not 
very  solid,  I  am  apt  to  think  that  they  will  be  disposed  to  offer 
the  whole  of  Passamaquoddy  Bay  and  the  disputed  fisheries  as 
an  equivalent  for  this  portion  of  northern  territory,  which  they 
want  in  order  to  connect  New  Brunswick  and  Quebec.  This 
may  account  for  their  tenacity  with  respect  to  the  temporary 
possession  of  Moose  Island,  and  for  their  refusing  to  accept  the 
recognition  of  their  right  to  the  navigation  of  the  Mississippi, 
provided  they  recognized  ours  to  the  fisheries.  That  northern 
territory  is  of  no  importance  to  us,  and  belongs  to  the  United 
States,  and  not  to  Massachusetts,  which  has  not  the  shadow  of  a 
claim  to  any  land  north  of  45  to  the  eastward  of  the  Penobscot 
River,  as  you  may  easily  convince  yourself  of  by  recurring  to 
her  charters. 


JEFFERSON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  March  19,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR, — This  letter  will  be  presented  to  you  by  Mr. 
George  Ticknor,  a  young  gentleman  of  Boston.  He  favored 
me  with  a  visit  here,  and  brought  high  "recommendations  from 

V, 


648  WETTINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

Mr.  Adams  and  others,  and,  during  a  stay  of  several  days  with 
us,  I  found  he  merited  everything  which  had  been  said  of  him. 
He  has  been  excellently  educated,  is  learned,  industrious,  eager 
after  knowledge,  and,  as  far  as  his  stay  with  us  could  enable  us 
to  judge,  he  is  amiable,  modest,  and  correct  in  his  deportment. 
He  had  prepared  himself  for  the  bar,  but  before  engaging  in 
business  he  proposes  to  pass  two  or  three  years  in  Europe,  to  see 
and  to  learn  what  can  be  seen  and  learnt  there.  Should  he  on 
his  return  enter  the  political  line,  he  will  go  far  in  that  career. 
Every  American  considers  his  minister  at  Paris  as  his  natural 
patron ;  but,  knowing  how  acceptable  it  is  in  your  station  to  be 
informed  who  are  worthy  of  your  particular  attentions,  I  write 
this  letter  for  your  sake  as  well  as  his.  I  had  given  him  one  to 
Mr.  Crawford,  not  then  knowing  your  appointment.  I  sincerely 
congratulate  you  on  it,  knowing  you  will  do  much  good  there, 
as  you  would  have  done  here  also  had  you  returned.  How  much 
have  we  wanted  you !  In  fighting  we  have  done  well.  We  have 
good  officers  at  length  coming  forward  from  the  mass,  who  would 
soon  have  planted  our  standard  on  the  walls  of  Quebec  and  Hali 
fax.  Our  men  were  always  good,  and,  after  the  affair  of  New 
Orleans,  theirs  would  never  have  faced  ours  again.  And  it  is 
long  since  they  have  ceased  to  trust  their  frigates  to  sail  alone. 
But  in  finance  we  have  suffered  cruelly.  With  a  revenue  which 
all  acknowledge  will  bring  us  in  35  millions  this  year,  we  are 
begging  daily  bread  at  the  doors  of  our  bankrupt  banks.  But 
this  letter  is  not  for  public  subjects.  I  shall  write  to  you  soon ; 
glad  you  are  there,  wishing  for  you  here,  knowing  your  value 
everywhere,  and  being  everywhere  and  always  your  affectionate 
friend. 


CRAWFORD    TO    GALLATIN. 

PARIS,  5th  April,  1815. 

DEAK  SIR, — On  the  3d  instant  I  had  an  interview  with  the 
Duke  of  Vicence,  the  result  of  which  convinces  me  that  the  Im 
perial  government  has  no  intention  at  this  time  to  do  anything 
in  relation  to  the  spoliations  committed  upon  American  com- 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC.  649 

merce.  At  the  close  of  the  conversation  I  communicated  to  him 
my  intention  of  returning  to  the  United  States  in  the  course  of 
the  present  or  succeeding  month.  In  the  letter  of  the  Secretary 
of  State  communicating  the  consent  of  the  President  to  my 
returning  home  in  the  spring,  I  was  directed  to  appoint  Mr. 
Jackson  charge"  des  affaires,  unless  he  should  wish  to  return  with 
me,  in  which  event  Mr.  Purviance  was  to  be  selected.  As  the 
latter  gentleman  has  returned  to  the  United  States,  the  alternative 
between  the  two  is  taken  away. 

I  have  this  day  seen  a  letter  from  Mr.  Beasley  to  Mr.  Adams, 
in  which  it  is  stated  that  you  are  appointed  Minister  to  France. 
Your  presence,  I  should  imagine,  has  entirely  superseded  my 
instructions  in  this  case.  Although  it  is  probable  that  your 
letters  of  credence  are  directed  to  Louis  the  Eighteenth,  yet  I 
suppose  you  can  appoint  a  charge  d'affaires  with  as  much  pro 
priety  as  I  could  have  done  had  your  appointment  remained 
unknown  to  me.  If,  however,  you  think  there  might  be  any 
obstacle  to  your  adopting  this  or  any  other  course  for  the  pur 
pose  of  having  the  interests  of  the  nation  attended  to  until 
other  letters  of  credence  can  be  obtained,  I  will,  under  your 
instructions  or  by  your  advice,  appoint  Mr.  Jackson  charge 
d'affaires,  according  to  the  original  views  of  the  State  Depart 
ment.  Without  such  advice  or  instructions  I  shall  do  nothing 
in  the  case. 

I  suppose  you  will  not,  under  existing  circumstances,  return 
in  the  Neptune.  In  this  event,  if  I  can  get  ready  in  time,  I 
think  of  occupying  your  place  on  board  that  vessel,  as  it  is 
wholly  uncertain  whether  any  American  vessel  will  sail  to 
Savannah  or  Charleston  before  the  sickly  season  commences  in 
those  places.  I  suppose  my  return  in  her  will  not  incommode 
the  other  gentlemen.  If  it  should,  I  will  not  think  of  it,  as  I 
have  no  claim  to  a  passage  in  her. 

I  am  sorry  that  Mr.  Beasley  has  been  so  laconic  in  his  com 
munication.  I  should  like  to  know  the  interesting  news  alluded 
to,  unless  the  appointments  mentioned  in  it  should  be  that 
news.  We  have  received  no  English  newspapers  of  later  date 
than  the  25th  ult,,  and  suppose  we  shall  not  receive  any  more 
of  them. 


650  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

With  great  respect,  I  am  your  most  obedient  and  very  humble 
servant. 

P.S. — An  early  answer  will  be  necessary,  especially  if  you 
wish  me  to  do  anything  in  relation  to  the  charge"  des  affaires. 
Mr.  Bayard  is  improving,  but  very  slowly.  The  Duchesse 
d'Angouleme  succeeded  at  Bordeaux  in  making  her  volun 
teers  fire  on  the  troops  of  the  line  on  their  approach  to  the  city. 
The  fire  was  not  returned,  and  her  Royal  Highness  has  embarked. 
The  insurgents  (they  are  now  called  so)  of  the  south  are  more 
resolute  and  more  numerous  than  those  of  Bordeaux.  Grouchy 
is  in  march  at  the  head  of  a  considerable  corps  of  troops  to  put 
a  stop  to  their  further  operations. 


GALLATIN   TO   MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  4tli  September,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  sent  by  Mr.  Cutts  the  convention  for 
regulating  the  commercial  intercourse  with  Great  Britain,  and 
will  write  on  that  subject  to  the  Secretary  of  State.  I  will  only 
say  that  the  British  government  appeared  rather  desirous  to  have 
made  no  arrangement  and  to  have  kept  the  whole  intercourse  to 
be  controlled  by  their  own  municipal  regulations,  which  they 
thought  we  could  not  counteract.  The  convention,  such  as  it 
is,  must,  so  far  as  relates  to  them,  be  considered  as  an  evidence 
of  friendly  disposition.  The  campaign  of  1814  had  made  us 
respected  and  gave  us  peace.  Their  antipathy  and  prejudices  in 
other  respects  have  been  modified;  and  although  their  pride  has, 
if  that  was  possible,  been  increased  by  the  late  events  in  Europe, 
they  will,  I  think,  be  disposed  to  preserve  friendly  relations  with 
us,  and,  at  all  events,  avoid  a  rupture.  There  had  not,  to  my 
knowledge,  been  any  case  of  impressment  in  the  British  ports 
since  the  commencement  of  the  late  hostilities.  .  .  . 

I  received  the  account  of  my  appointment  to  France  with 
pleasure  and  gratitude,  as  an  evidence  of  your  undiminished 
friendship  and  of  public  satisfaction  for  my  services.  Whether 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC.  (551 

I  can  or  will  accept  I  have  not  yet  determined.  The  season  will 
he  far  advanced  for  taking  Mrs.  G.  across  the  Atlantic,  and  I 
have  had  no  time  to  ascertain  what  arrangement,  if  any,  I  can 
make  for  my  children  and  private  business  during  a  second 
absence.  The  delay  has  been  rather  advantageous  to  the  public, 
as  it  was  best  to  have  no  minister  at  Paris  during  the  late  events. 
Mrs.  G.,  with  her  best  compliments,  congratulates  Mrs.  M. 
on  her  son's  return;  and  I  am,  with  the  most  sincere  attachment 
and  respect,  truly  yours. 

I  enclose  a  letter  from  La  Fayette.     When  do  you  expect  to 
be  at  Washington  ? 


GALLATIN    TO   JEFFERSON. 


YORK,  September  6,  1815. 
DEAR  SIR,  —  I  enclose  two  letters  from  Europe,  one  from 
La  Fayette,  who  desired  that  I  should  bear  witness  to  his  con 
stant  endeavors,  under  all  circumstances,  in  support  of  the  cause 
of  liberty,  and  to  his  undiminished  affection  for  his  American 
friends,  and  particularly  for  yourself.  I  was  much  gratified  by 
the  receipt  of  your  kind  letter  of  March  last,  brought  by  Mr. 
Ticknor.  Your  usual  partiality  to  me  is  evinced  by  the  belief 
that  our  finances  might  have  been  better  directed  if  I  had  re 
mained  in  the  Treasury.  But  I  always  thought  that  our  war 
expenses  were  so  great,  perhaps  necessarily  so,  in  proportion  to 
the  ordinary  resources  of  the  country,  and  the  opposition  of  the 
moneyed  men  so  inveterate,  that  it  was  impossible  to  avoid  falling 
into  a  paper  system  if  the  war  should  be  much  longer  protracted. 
I  only  regret  that  specie  payments  were  not  resumed  on  the  re 
turn  of  peace.  Whatever  difficulties  may  be  in  the  way,  they 
cannot  be  insuperable  provided  the  object  be  immediately  attended 
to.  If  delayed,  private  interest  will  operate  here  as  in  England, 
and  lay  us  under  the  curse  of  a  depreciated  and  fluctuating  cur 
rency.  In  every  other  respect  I  must  acknowledge  that  the  war 
has  been  useful.  The  character  of  America  stands  now  as  high 
as  ever  on  the  European  Continent,  and  higher  than  ever  it  did 


652  WK1TINGS     OF     GALLAT1N.  1815. 

in  Great  Britain.  I  may  say  that  we  are  favorites  everywhere, 
except  at  courts;  and  even  there,  although  the  Emperor  of 
Russia  is  perhaps  the  only  sovereign  who  likes  us,  we  are 
generally  respected,  and  considered  as  the  nation  designed  to 
check  the  naval  despotism  of  England. 

France,  which  alone  can  have  a  navy,  will,  under  her  present 
dynasty,  be  for  some  years  a  vassal  of  her  great  rival ;  and  the 
mission  with  which  I  have  been  honored  is,  in  a  political  view, 
unimportant.  The  revolution  has  not,  however,  been  altogether 
useless.  There  is  a  visible  improvement  in  the  agriculture  of 
the  country  and  the  situation  of  the  peasantry.  The  new  genera 
tion  belonging  to  that  class,  freed  from  the  petty  despotism  of 
nobles  and  priests,  and  made  more  easy  in  their  circumstances 
by  the  abolition  of  tithes  and  by  the  equalization  of  taxes,  have 
acquired  an  independent  spirit,  and  are  far  superior  to  their 
fathers  in  intellect  and  information.  They  are  not  republicans, 
and  are  still  too  much  dazzled  by  military  glory ;  but  I  think 
that  no  monarch  or  ex-nobles  can  hereafter  oppress  them  long 
with  impunity. 

Accept,  my  dear  sir,  the  assurance  of  my  constant  and  grateful 
attachment  and  respect. 

Your  obedient  servant. 


MADISON   TO    GALLATIN. 

MONTPELIER,  September  11,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  just  received  your  favor  of  the  4th.  I 
congratulate  yourself  and  Mrs.  Gallatin  on  your  safe  arrival 
and  under  circumstances  which  must  console  her  so  much  for 
your  prolonged  absence.  .  .  . 

It  was  not  much  to  be  expected  that  the  British  government, 
on  the  pinnacle  of  its  elevation,  would  look  with  solicitude  on 
her  relations  to  the  United  States.  The  convention  is  a  proof, 
however,  that  she  dots  not  wish  the  sort  of  conflict  which  her 
countervailing  duties  would  be  likely  to  produce.  And  as  it  is 
certainly  not  our  wish,  the  equalizing  stipulation  on  the  subject 
is  valuable  to  both  parties.  The  footing  on  which  the  East 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC.  653 

India  trade  is  put  fulfils  the  reasonable  expectations  of  the 
public  here.  It  would  have  been  well,  I  believe,  for  both 
parties  if  a  good  arrangement  had  taken  place  on  the  subject 
of  the  West  India  trade ;  but  this  was  promised  neither  by 
experience  nor  by  the  circumstances  of  the  moment.  The  want 
of  reciprocity  in  that  trade  whilst  Great  Britain  permits  her  own 
vessels  to  come  to  our  ports,  will  be  more  and  more  felt,  par 
ticularly  by  the  Eastern  States,  and  will  sooner  or  later  produce 
invitations  to  the  other  States  to  concur  in  counteracting  regula 
tions.  I  retain  my  opinion  that  effectual  ones  might  be  adopted 
without  incurring  any  very  sensible  inconvenience  to  our  com 
merce,  much  less  any  risk  to  the  peace  between  the  two  countries. 
But  our  present  situation  dissuades  from  experiments  which  are 
not  urgent,  and  it  may  be  hoped  that  before  the  convention 
expires  the  amity  it  secures  may  bring  about  an  adjustment  not 
only  of  that  but  of  other  points  waived  for  the  present.  What 
are  probably  the  views  of  the  British  Cabinet  with  respect  to 
the  fisheries,  &c.,  within  the  marine  league  ?  Was  it  understood 
distinctly  at  Ghent  that  the  restoration  of  the  mouth  of  Columbia 
was  included  in  the  general  article,  and  is  it  probable  that  orders 
have  been  sent  thither  from  Great  Britain  to  that  effect? 

I  am  not  aware  of  any  considerations  that  press  for  your 
decision  as  to  the  mission  to  Paris  without  the  deliberation  due 
to  your  private  affairs.  Mrs.  M.  returns  her  congratulations  to 
Mrs.  Gal  latin  with  her  affectionate  respects.  I  beg  leave  to  add 
mine  to  the  assurances  of  my  great  esteem  and  cordial  regards 
for  yourself. 


GALLATIN   TO  RICHARD  BACHB. 

GREENWICH,  24th  September,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR,— I  have  this  moment  received  your  letter  of 
yesterday,  and  the  mail  will  close  in  a  few  minutes.  I  am 
more  gratified  by  the  mark  of  confidence  given  me  by  the 
Republican  conferees  of  the  Philadelphia  district  than  I  can 
express.  But  I  cannot  serve  them  in  the  station  with  which 
they  would  honor  me.  My  property  is  not  half  sufficient  to 


654  WRITINGS    OF    GAL  LA  TIN.  1815. 

support  me  anywhere  but  in  the  Western  country.  To  my 
private  business  and  to  making  arrangements  for  entering  into 
some  active  business  I  must  necessarily  and  immediately  attend. 
It  is  a  duty  I  owe  to  my  family.  Return  my  sincere  thanks  and 
make  my  apology  to  the  conferees,  and  believe  me,  &c. 


GALLATIX   TO  A.  J.  DALLAS,  SECRETARY  OF  TREASURY. 


YORK,  25th  September,  1815. 
Sm,  —  I  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  letter  of  22d  instant, 
asking  for  information  respecting  the  state  of  the  circulating 
medium  of  Russia.  The  specie  or  silver  ruble  contains  282  J 
troy  grains  of  pure  silver,  and  is  worth  about  76  cents  money  of 
the  United  States.  But  paper  rubles  (called  bank  paper)  are  the 
legal  and  only  currency  of  Russia.  I  believe  that  all  payments 
and  purchases  are  made  exclusively  in  that  paper;  and  it  is  the 
only  money  of  account.  By  ukase  dated  a  short  time  after  the 
Treaty  of  Tilsit,  its  value  was  fixed  at  the  rate  of  four  paper  for 
one  silver  ruble.  The  legal  value  of  the  paper  ruble  or  ruble 
of  account  is  therefore  about  19  cents  money  of  the  United 
States.  From  the  date  of  that  ukase  till  as  late  at  least  as  last 
winter,  the  market  price  of  silver  in  paper  rubles  has  differed 
but  little  from  that  fixed  by  law.  Even  during  the  French 
war,  and  whilst  they  were  at  Moscow,  there  was  [no]  sensible  de 
preciation  in  the  paper  currency.  Still,  there  are  some  fluctua 
tions,  which  are  regularly  quoted  twice  a  week  on  exchange  days, 
and  may,  I  presume,  be  obtained  from  almost  every  merchant 
who  has  correspondents  in  Russia.  Whilst  I  was  there  —  from 
July,  1813,  to  the  latter  end  of  January,  1814  —  those  fluctua 
tions  were  from  396  to  408  paper  for  100  silver  rubles.  I  heard. 
however,  in  June  last,  whilst  in  London,  that  the  paper  currency 
had  suddenly  depreciated  to  the  rate  of  five  paper  for  one  silver 
ruble.  For  this  I  cannot  vouch,  nor  is  it  probable  that  such 
event,  although  it  might  instantaneously  affect  the  rate  of  for 
eign  exchanges,  would  have  any  immediate  sensible  effect  on  the 
price,  in  paper,  of  Russian  commodities.  Such  an  effect  must 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC.  655 

necessarily  be  ultimately  produced  wherever  there  is  a  depre 
ciated  paper  currency ;  but  it  is  slow  and  progressive.  I  do  not 
believe  that  the  similar  depreciation  in  English  bank  paper  (or, 
as  it  is  called  now,  the  rise  in  the  price  of  silver),  which  took 
place  on  the  last  entrance  of  Bonaparte  in  Paris,  and  which 
lasted  till  its  capitulation  to  the  allies,  say  the  months  of  April, 
May,  and  June,  had  any  material  effect  on  the  prices  of  English 
manufactures.  The  Treasury  of  the  United  States  did  not  cer 
tainly  alter  on  that  account  the  mode  of  computing  duties  on 
British  importations.  The  rate  of  exchange  between  St.  Peters 
burg  and  London  varies  so  much  that  it  affords  a  very  uncertain 
criterion  for  estimating  the  real  value  either  of  the  respective 
currencies  or  of  the  merchandise  exported  from  Russia.  Pay 
ments  being  made  in  both  countries  in  depreciated  and  fluc 
tuating  paper  currencies,  and  St.  Petersburg  being  at  all  times 
so  remote,  and  inaccessible  six  months  in  the  year,  the  equilib 
rium  cannot  be  restored  at  once  by  shipments  of  specie,  as  is  the 
case  in  the  intercourse  between  England,  Holland,  and  France. 
The  exchange  had  been  as  high  as  20  pence  sterling  per  paper 
ruble  during  the  winter  1812-1813.  Whilst  I  was  in  Russia 
it  varied  from  16  to  13  J  pence  sterling  per  ruble.  And  during 
the  whole  of  that  time  there  was  no  material  variation  in  the 
relative  value  of  silver  to  that  of  either  British  or  Russian  paper 
currency.  The  differences  in  the  rate  of  exchange  seem  to  be 
owing  exclusively  to  the  amount  of  bills  at  market  and  to  the 
demand  for  them,  and  both  these  vary  not  only  according  to  the 
commercial  balance  of  trade,  but  are  in  a  great  degree  connected 
with  the  operations  of  government,  which  has  on  one  hand 
troops  to  supply  abroad,  and  receives  on  the  other  subsidies 
from  Great  Britain.  Yet  importing  and  exporting  merchants 
at  St.  Petersburg,  as  well  as  those  in  foreign  countries  who 
trade  with  that  place,  value  the  paper  ruble,  from  the  manner 
in  which  they  obtain  and  dispose  of  their  funds,  at  the  price 
which  it  costs  them  or  at  which  they  can  sell  it  in  bills  on  Eng 
land.  It  may  not  be  improper  to  observe,  in  relation  to  Mr. 
Robert's  importation,  that  supposing  his  statement  to  be  correct, 
viz.,  that  the  paper  ruble  was  at  the  rate  of  five  paper  for  one 
silver  ruble,  and  that  the  exchange  on  London  was  at  10J  pence 


(556  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

sterling  per  paper  ruble,  the  mode  of  computing  duties  hereto 
fore  adopted  at  the  Treasury  will  not  place  him  on  a  worse  foot 
ing  than  importers  from  England,  if  the  value  of  specie  be 
taken  as  the  standard.  I  do  not  recollect  the  precise  price  of 
silver  in  England  in  May  last,  but  it  did  not  differ  2  per  cent, 
from  the  rate  of  exchange  on  Holland,  taking  11  guilders  and 
2  stivers  for  the  par.  If  there  was  any  difference,  it  was  in  favor 
of  silver.  The  exchange  was  then,  at  most,  8  guilders  and  19 
stivers,  equal  to  3  dollars  58  cents  per  pound  sterling,  which 
makes  10  J  pence  sterling  equal  to  15  cents  and  3%.  And  the 
paper  ruble,  valued  at  five  for  one,  is  worth  15  cents  and  -f$. 

It  is  true  that  silver,  though  not  a  perfect,  and  there  can  be 
none,  is  the  best  and  in  fact  the  only  common  standard  by  which 
to  ascertain  the  value  both  of  paper  currencies  and  of  merchan 
dise  of  different  countries.  But  where  the  depreciation  is  neither 
acknowledged  nor  considerable,  and  varies  from  day  to  day,  as 
is  the  case  with  English  currency,  it  would  be  an  endless  task,  if 
at  all  practicable,  to  reduce  every  invoice  and  to  calculate  the 
duties  according  to  the  silver  value,  for  the  time  being,  of  that 
currency.  It  was  not,  therefore,  attempted  here,  and  no  com 
plaint  was  made,  although  the  same  duty  was  raised  on  the  arti 
cle  which  cost  23J  francs  specie  in  France,  and  on  that  which 
cost  one  pound  sterling  bank  paper  in  England,  at  a  time  when 
that  pound  was  only  worth  18  francs.  When  the  question  was 
raised  respecting  the  manner  of  calculating  duties  on  importa 
tions  from  Russia,  neither  the  legal  value  of  the  paper  ruble  nor 
the  steadiness  for  a  number  of  years  of  its  market  value  were 
correctly  known  at  the  Treasury ;  and  the  mode  of  calculating 
according  to  the  rate  of  exchange  on  England  was  adopted  on 
the  ground  of  placing  importations  from  those  two  countries  on 
the  same  footing.  That  principle  appeared  more  just  and  prac 
ticable  than  an  attempt  to  ascertain  the  specie  value  of  the  ruble, 
because  paper  was  the  currency  of  both  countries,  and  because  the 
great  mass  of  goods  on  which  duties  ad  valorem  were  imposed 
was  imported  from  England.  If  it  shall  be  thought  proper  to 
alter  that%ode,  it  may  be  done  in  two  ways :  either  to  take  the 
legal  value  of  the  paper  ruble  at  the  rate  of  4  for  1,  which  will 
give  the  constant  value  of  that  ruble  equal  to  19  cents,  and  is 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC.  657 

the  rule  applied  to  importations  from  England,  the  pound  ster 
ling  being  always  estimated  here  at  its  legal  value,  equivalent 
to  4  dollars  and  44  cents ;  and  to  ascertain  for  each  importation 
the  relative  value  of  the  paper  to  the  silver  ruble.  But  in  this 
last  case  it  would  be  consistent  to  adopt  the  same  principle  with 
respect  to  importations  from  England,  and,  indeed,  from  every 
other  country  which  has  a  paper  currency. 

I  have,  &c. 


GALLATIN   TO   JAMES   H.  BLAKE. 

WASHINGTON  CITY,  November  6,  1815. 

SIR, — I  request  you  to  return  my  thanks  to  the  corporation 
of  the  city  of  Washington  for  the  favorable  opinion  they  enter 
tain  of  the  manner  in  which  the  duties  enjoined  on  the  ministers 
employed  in  negotiating  peace  with  Great  Britain  have  been 
performed,  and  for  the  honor  done  me  by  the  adoption  of  the 
resolution  which  you  have  transmitted  to  me. 

I  embrace  with  pleasure  this  opportunity  to  express  my  grate 
ful  sense  of  the  civilities  and  kindness  which,  during  my  resi 
dence  in  this  city,  I  have  uniformly  experienced  from  its  inhab 
itants  ;  and,  praying  you  to  accept  my  sincere  wishes  for  their 
prosperity  and  for  your  personal  happiness,  I  have  the  honor  to 
be,  with  respectful  consideration, 

Your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  23d  November,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR,— I  have  ultimately  dfecided  not  to  go  to  France, 
and  write  this  day  accordingly  to  the  Secretary  of  State.  I  am 
fully  sensible  of  the  efforts  you  made  to  keep  me  in  the  Treasury, 
of  the  unpleasant  situation  in  which  my  absence  and  that  effort 
placed  you,  as  well  as  of  the  friendly  motives  which,  combined 
with  your  view  of  public  utility,  induced  you  to  give  me  this 
VOL.  i. — 43 


658  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

last  proof  of  your  high  regard  and  confidence.  I  feel  truly 
grateful  for  every  part  of  your  conduct  towards  me  before  and 
since  you  were  President,  and  I  would  have  wished  to  have  been 
able  to  evince  ray  sense  of  it  by  a  cheerful  and  thankful  accept 
ance  of  the  honorable  office  to  which  you  had  appointed  me. 
But  every  consideration  connected  with  private  prudence  and 
regard  to  my  family  forbids  my  doing  it;  and,  considering  the 
present  depressed  situation  of  France,  no  motive  of  public  utility 
urges  a  contrary  determination,  even  if,  under  other  circum 
stances,  my  services  could  have  been  deemed  useful  at  that 
court.  As  regards  myself,  I  will  briefly  state  that  the  compen 
sation  allowed  to  foreign  ministers  is  incompetent  to  the  support 
of  a  minister  at  Paris  in  the  style  in  which  he  is  expected  to 
live,  and  which  it  is  of  some  importance  for  the  country  that 
he  should  maintain ;  that  my  private  resources  are  too  scanty 
to  supply  the  deficiency  without  making  sacrifices  which  would 
leave  my  family  at  my  death  dependent  on  others ;  that,  sup 
posing  I  could  barely  exist  there  for  a  few  years,  I  would  return 
with  children  having  acquired  expensive  and  foreign  habits  and 
lost  the  opportunities  of  entering  into  the  active  pursuits  by 
which  they  must  support  themselves,  and  myself  too  old  to 
assist  and  too  poor  to  support  them;  and  that  a  residence  in 
France  will  at  this  time,  both  in  a  public  and  private  view,  be 
irksome  and  unpleasant  to  an  American  minister,  affording  no 
compensation  for  the  sacrifices  it  would  require.  But  I  must 
add  that  these  sacrifices  would  without  hesitation  have  been 
made  if  the  mission  had  in  view  any  important  and  attainable 
object  of  public  utility.  This  not  being  at  all  the  case,  I  have 
supposed  myself  at  liberty  to  listen  to  motives  of  private  and 
prudential  consideration,  and,  perceiving  no  probability  that  my 
present  views  of  the  subject  would  be  changed,  I  have  thought 
it  fair  not  to  keep  it  any  longer  in  suspense,  and  to  decline  the 
appointment  before  the  meeting  of  Congress. 

I  have  heard  with  concern  the  report  of  the  cession  of  Florida 
to  England.  In  the  present  situation  of  Europe  it  is  only  from 
that  country  that  we  have  to  apprehend  any  foreign  collision. 
I  still  hope  that  the  report  is  unfounded,  and  that  peace  being 
secured,  at  least  for  some  years,  your  labors  and  those  of  the 


1815.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  (559 

other  public  functionaries  may  be  exclusively  and  successfully 
applied  to  the  arrangement  of  our  internal  concerns. 

Mrs.  Gal  latin  requests  to  be  affectionately  remembered  to  Mrs. 
Madison.  We  are  all  well ;  and  after  spending  this  winter  with 
Mrs.  G.'s  friends,  it  is  our  present  intention  to  retire  in  the  spring 
to  our  home  on  the  Monongahela. 

With  most  sincere  wishes  for  your  personal  happiness,  and 
great  respect,  I  remain  your  affectionate  and  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN    TO   MONROE. 

NEW  YORK,  23d  November,  1815. 

After  giving  to  the  subject  all  the  consideration  due  to  it,  I 
find  it  necessary  to  decline  accepting  the  appointment  of  minister 
of  the  United  States  to  the  Court  of  France,  which  the  President 
had  been  pleased  to  bestow  on  me.  In  making  this  communi 
cation  to  him,  permit  me  to  request  that  you  will  express  my 
grateful  thanks  for  this  distinguished  proof  of  his  approbation, 
as  well  as  for  the  other  marks  of  confidence  and  of  friendship 
with  which  he  has  ever  honored  me.  With  my  most  sincere 
wishes  that  your  and  his  unremitted  efforts  for  promoting  the 
interests  and  welfare  of  the  United  States  may  meet  with  all 
the  success  they  merit,  I  have  the  honor  to  be,  respectfully,  sir, 
your  most  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO  CLAY. 

NEW  YORK,  23d  November,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR, — My  accounts  being  settled  and  in  the  Register's 
office,  you  will  be  able  to  ascertain  the  principles  which  have 
been  adopted.  Compensation  has  been  allowed  to  the  22d  of 
July,  the  day  of  departure  from  England,  and  an  allowance 
made  for  the  travelling  expenses  incident  to  the  removal  of  the 
seats  of  negotiation.  This,  in  my  case,  has  been  for  travelling 


660  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

from  St.  Petersburg  to  London  and  thence  to  Ghent,  and  from 
Ghent  to  London.  I  presume  that  in  yours  the  allowance  will 
be  from  Gottenburg  to  Ghent,  and  from  Ghent  to  London.  You 
have  in  addition  your  extraordinary  expenses  at  Gottenburg.  It 
did  not  appear  to  me  that  a  charge  could  be  made  for  the  extra 
expenses  in  London. 

You  must  have  received  a  letter  from  the  Treasury  similar  to 
that  written  to  me  respecting  duties  on  our  baggage.  I  have 
not  answered  mine,  wishing  first  to  know  what  you  intend  to 
do.  I  brought  nothing  but  effects  coming  under  the  description 
of  wearing-apparel,  books,  and  furniture  (including  some  plate 
and  glass)  to  a  very  moderate  amount,  all  for  my  use  and  that 
of  my  family,  and  all  such  as,  when  imported  by  a  minister 
returning  from  a  foreign  mission,  have  by  uniform  practice  been 
considered  as  exempt  from  duty,  although  many,  if  imported  by 
a  private  individual,  would  have  paid  duty.  The  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  is  under  a  mistake  in  his  inference  from  two  let 
ters,  copies  of  which  he  enclosed  to  me,  that  either  an  inventory 
(meaning  thereby  an  invoice  or  detailed  specification  of  the 
articles  contained  in  each  package)  has  ever  been  required 
from  any  minister,  or  that  the  question  has  ever  been  left  to  the 
collector  to  decide  which  of  such  articles  were  liable  to  or  ex 
empt  from  duty.  In  both  the  cases  referred  to  in  the  letters 
above  mentioned  (Messrs.  King  and  Erving),  the  collector  is 
required  to  deliver  the  baggage  without  requiring  duty,  and 
nothing  is  left  to  his  discretion;  and  the  inventory  alluded  to 
in  the  letter  respecting  Mr.  Erving,  which  was  furnished  by 
him,  not  required  from  him,  was  used  for  the  purpose  not  of 
authorizing  or  enabling  the  collector  to  distinguish  what  articles 
might  be  liable  to  duty,  but  of  enabling  him  to  distinguish  Mr. 
Erving's  baggage  from  other  packages  imported  in  the  same  ship, 
the  said  baggage  not  having  been  brought  in  the  same  vessel  in 
which  he  had  returned  home. 

In  every  case  referred  to  the  Treasury,  whilst  I  was  Secretary, 
the  order  thus  to  deliver  the  baggage  was,  subsequent  to  Mr. 
King's  case,  given  as  a  matter  of  course.  But  I  believe  that  in 
most  cases  the  collectors,  knowing  the  practice,  delivered  the 
baggage  without  difficulty  and  without  reference  to  the  Treas- 


1815.  LETTEKS,    ETC. 

ury.  The  first  reference  was  on  Mr.  King's  return;  he  had 
much  baggage,  and  it  was  the  first  case  in  that  port  since  Mr. 
Gelston  was  collector.  I  knew  the  practice,  although  I  could 
not  find  the  instructions  on  record.  They  must,  however,  have 
been  given,  perhaps  in  private  letters  not  recorded,  or  they  may 
have  escaped  the  research  of  the  clerk.  The  easiest  way  to 
ascertain  the  fact  beyond  dispute  was  by  applying  to  Mr.  Jef 
ferson  for  information,  as  he  was  the  first  minister  who  had 
returned  from  a  foreign  mission  under  the  present  government. 
He  informed  me  that  his  baggage,  which  was  valuable  and  con 
tained  at  least  as  many  articles,  which  if  imported  by  individuals 
would  have  paid  duty,  as  those  belonging  to  subsequent  ministers, 
had  paid  no  duty,  and  that  this  was,  as  far  as  he  knew,  the  con 
stant  rule.  This  case  had,  in  fact,  established  the  rule.  I  wrote 
accordingly  to  the  collector  of  New  York  the  letter  respecting 
Mr.  King's  baggage.  Such  as  has  afterwards  arrived  in  the 
same  port  under  similar  circumstances  has  been  delivered  with 
out  hesitation  on  reference  to  the  Treasury.  This  was  the  case 
with  respect  to  the  baggage  of  Mr.  Livingston,  of  Mr.  Arm 
strong,  (I  believe  of  Mr.  Barlow,)  and  lately  of  Mr.  Crawford, 
which  came  in  the  Hesper  from  Havre.  Whether  on  the  return 
of  Messrs.  Monroe,  William  Pinkney,  Charles  Pinckney,  and 
Bowdoin,  the  baggage  was  delivered  by  the  respective  collectors 
without  reference  to  the  Treasury,  or  upon  an  order  from  the 
Treasury,  I  cannot  positively  say,  although  I  have  some  recol 
lection  of  an  application,  verbal  or  written,  in  the  case  of  Mr. 
W.  Pinkney.  But  I  can  assert  that  the  rule  was  uniform,  and 
the  order  given  at  once  whenever  the  case  was  referred  to  the 
Treasury.  If  a  new  rule  be  established,  ought  it  not  to  be  pros 
pective?  or,  if  retrospective  on  the  assumed  ground  of  error  [or] 
reconsideration,  should  it  not  be  general  and  embrace  every  case 
from  Mr.  Jefferson  downwards,  instead  of  being  confined  to  a 
single  case,  nay,  to  a  single  vessel?  for  no  question  is  asked 
respecting  Mr.  Crawford's  subsequent  importation  of  baggage 
in  the  Hesper,  Mr.  Erving  in  another  vessel,  or  even  ours,  if 
any,  in  the  Lorenzo.  To  this  long  detail  I  will  only  add  that, 
according  to  practice,  the  error  in  the  case  of  the  Neptune  was 
not  the  order  to  deliver  to  the  ministers  their  baggage  free  of 


WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

duty,  but  to  have  considered  all  the  baggage  and  other  articles 
on  board  the  vessel  as  if  belonging  to  the  ministers  and  being 
exempt  from  duty.  Upon  the  whole,  have  the  goodness  to  let 
[me]  know  what  you  intend  to  do,  and  the  final  decision  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  to  whom  you  may  communicate  this 
letter, — a  course  preferable  in  my  situation  to  a  more  formal 
answer  to  his  letter  to  me.  Present  Mrs.  Gallatin's  and  my 
respects  to  Mrs.  Clay,  and  believe  me,  truly  and  respectfully, 
your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

NEW  YORK,  25th  November,  1815. 

SIR, — Whilst  last  at  Washington  I  communicated  some  ob 
servations  connected  with  the  late  commercial  convention  with 
Great  Britain,  which,  in  conformity  with  your  suggestion,  I 
will  now  reduce  to  writing. 

The  last  instructions  given  on  that  subject  to  which  we  were 
generally  referred  were  those  of  20th  May,  1807.  We  had,  in 
addition,  the  Act  passed  by  Congress  during  their  last  session, 
subsequent  to  the  ratification  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  by  which  a 
general  and  reciprocal  abolition  of  all  discriminating  duties  was 
proposed.  Considering,  therefore,  this  last  object  as  that  which 
by  our  country  was  considered  most  important  and  desirable  in 
our  relations  with  foreign  nations,  we  offered  in  our  note  of  24th 
June  to  the  British  plenipotentiaries  to  agree  to  an  arrangement 
confined  to  that  object  alone.  But  we  refused  to  accede  to  their 
proposal  (as  contained  in  their  note  of  the  23d)  to  omit  altogether 
the  article  respecting  India,  and  to  sign  a  convention  embracing 
not  only  the  abolition  of  discriminating  duties,  but  also  all  the 
other  provisions  respecting  the  intercourse  between  the  United 
States  and  the  British  territories  in  Europe,  contained  in  the 
article  then  and  finally  agreed  to.  The  instructions  of  20th 
May,  1807,  whilst  forbidding  an  attempt  to  modify  the  East 
India  article  by  offering  to  waive  the  privilege  of  indirect  out 
ward  voyages,  gave  the  preference  to  the  omission  of  any  arti 
cles  on  the  subject,  and  to  a  reliance  on  the  regulations  which 


1815.  LETTEKS,    ETC. 

Great  Britain  would  find  it  her  interest  to  make  without  any 
treaty  stipulation.  There  was  nothing,  therefore,  in  those  in 
structions  forbidding  us  to  accept  the  proposal  of  the  British 
plenipotentiaries;  but  we  preferred  insisting  on  the  India  article, 
and,  for  the  sake  of  its  being  inserted,  to  agree  that  the  con 
vention  should  be  limited  to  a  shorter  period  of  time  than 
had  been  contemplated.  We  refused  to  agree  to  the  European 
article  entire  unless  the  India  article  made  part  of  the  con 
vention.  I  mentioned  at  Washington,  and  will  now  repeat, 
the  reasons  which,  in  my  view  of  the  subject,  rendered  that 
course  proper. 

Not  only  had  those  instructions  contemplated  a  treaty  em 
bracing  important  objects  not  included  in  the  proposed  conven 
tion,  but  they  were  framed  at  a  time  when  Great  Britain  pursued 
a  very  different  policy  with  respect  to  the  East  India  trade  from 
that  which  has  lately  been  adopted.  Whilst  she  continued  to 
exclude  her  own  subjects  from  any  participation  in  that  branch 
of  commerce,  the  acknowledged  incompetency  of  the  East  India 
Company  to  supply  India  with  a  sufficient  amount  of  specie  and 
to  carry  off  the  surplus  produce  of  that  country  made  it  necessary 
for  both  those  purposes  to  resort  to  the  foreign  nations,  or,  to 
speak  more  properly,  to  that  of  the  United  States.  Without  any 
treaty  stipulation  the  subject  might,  therefore,  be  left  safely  at  that 
time  to  such  internal  regulations  as  Great  Britain  would,  of  her 
own  accord  and  in  pursuance  of  her  general  policy,  make  in  re 
gard  to  it.  This  opinion  is  supported  by  experience,  our  vessels 
having  been  admitted  in  the  British  East  Indies  subsequent  to 
the  expiration  of  the  treaty  of  1794  as  freely  and  on  the  same 
terms  as  they  had  been  whilst  that  treaty  was  in  force. 

But  a  different  policy  has  now  been  adopted  by  Great  Britain. 
The  India  trade  has,  by  the  last  modification  of  the  charter  of 
the  East  India  Company,  been  opened  to  the  private  enterprise 
and  capital  of  British  subjects,  and  the  same  motives  no  longer 
exist,  at  least  to  the  same  extent,  for  encouraging  our  commerce. 
Without  pretending  to  conjecture  how  far  this  new  state  of 
things  may  in  practice  operate,  there  was  sufficient  evidence  of 
a  change  of  disposition  in  the  refusal  on  the  part  of  the  British 
plenipotentiaries  to  place  in  that  respect  by  treaty  the  United 


664  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1815. 

States  on  the  footing  of  the  most  favored  nations,  a  provision 
which,  it  appears  by  your  correspondence,  could  have  been  ob 
tained  without  difficulty  in  1806-1807.  It  appeared,  therefore, 
unsafe  to  accede  to  the  proposal  of  agreeing  to  the  second  article 
of  the  convention  entire  and  alone,  by  which  every  commercial 
advantage  the  United  States  had  to  offer  was  yielded,  without 
securing  or  reserving  any  means  of  obtaining  the  admission  of 
our  vessels  in  British  India.  And  it  seemed  due  to  our  govern 
ment  not  to  act  upon  an  instruction  given  under  circumstances 
different  from  the  existing  state  of  things,  and  which,  with  a 
knowledge  of  the  change  which  had  taken  place,  the  President 
might  have  deemed  proper  to  revoke  or  to  modify. 

It  is  not  irrelevant  to  the  subject  also  to  observe  that,  al 
though  the  British  Parliament  refused  the  proposal  to  place, 
permanently  by  treaty,  the  United  States  on  the  same  footing 
with  respect  to  the  East  India  trade  as  the  most  favored  na 
tions,  the  convention  secures  to  us  that  trade  in  the  manner  now 
enjoyed  by  those  nations ;  and  that  Great  Britain  has  by  that 
refusal  only  reserved  to  herself  the  right  of  granting  hereafter 
greater  advantages  to  other  nations  than  they  now  enjoy,  with 
out  being  obliged  to  extend  those  advantages  to  the  United 
States. 

The  importance  which  public  opinion  and  the  general  tenor 
of  former  instructions  had  attached  to  that  subject  would  make 
it  the  duty  of  American  ministers  to  pay  particular  attention 
to  it.  I  must,  however,  acknowledge  that  if  listening  to  my 
private  opinion  I  would  have  set  much  less  value  on  that  trade 
than  duty  compelled  me  to  do  during  the  late  negotiation.  It 
consists  almost  exclusively  in  the  exportation  of  specie,  which 
experience  at  this  moment  forcibly  proves  to  be  the  necessary 
basis  of  a  solid  system  even  of  paper  circulating  medium ;  and 
in  the  importation  of  articles  in  competition  with  one  of  the 
most  important  branches  of  our  manufacture  and  agriculture. 
Should  the  policy  of  the  country  induce  the  adoption  of  re 
strictive  measures  either  on  the  exports  or  imports  connected 
with  that  trade,  they  would  have  the  collateral  advantage  of 
proving  to  the  British  government  that,  so  far  from  being  dis 
posed  to  make  any  sacrifice  in  order  to  obtain  what  it  supposes 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC. 

a  privilege,  the  United  States  consider  that  branch  of  commerce 
as  of  no  real  advantage  to  them. 

The  only  part  of  the  convention,  therefore,  which  to  me 
appears  truly  valuable,  is  that  which  regulates  the  intercourse 
with  the  British  dominions,  and  particularly  the  provision 
which  abolishes  all  discriminating  duties, — a  policy  which,  re 
moving  some  grounds  of  irritation,  and  preventing  in  that  re 
spect  a  species  of  commercial  warfare,  may  have  a  tendency  to 
lay  the  foundation  of  a  better  understanding  between  the  two 
nations  on  other  points;  and  which  consists  also  with  the  sound 
est  principles  of  political  economy,  giving  the  greatest  extent  to 
commercial  enterprise  in  both  countries,  and  enable  alike  the 
manufacturer  and  grower  of  produce  to  obtain  the  highest  price 
for  the  products  of  their  industry,  and  the  consumer  to  obtain 
those  articles  at  the  cheapest  rate.  I  feel  also  a  perfect  convic 
tion  that  in  the  competition,  founded  on  such  fair  principles, 
which  will  ensue,  the  natural  and  acquired  advantages  of  Amer 
ica,  above  all,  the  superior  activity,  enterprise,  and  skill  of  her 
citizens  over  the  subjects  of  any  European  nation,  will  give  a 
decided  superiority  to  the  United  States  over  Great  Britain; 
and  my  only  apprehension  is  that  that  superiority  will  be  such 
as  to  convince  that  country  that  they  cannot  compete  with  us  on 
equal  terms,  and  to  induce  the  British  government  not  to  renew 
the  convention. 

My  colleagues  and  myself  agreed  on  the  general  result ;  but, 
not  wishing  to  commit  either  of  them  with  respect  to  the  grounds 
of  their  opinion,  I  have  in  this  letter  spoken  in  the  first  person. 
As  you  may  easily  ascertain  whether  I  am  mistaken,  I  will  add 
that  I  am  under  the  impression  that  even  in  that  respect  Mr. 
Clay  and  myself  were  substantially  of  the  same  opinion,  and 
had  taken  nearly  similar  views  of  every  subject  connected  with 
the  negotiation. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  very  respectfully,  sir,  your  most 
obedient  servant. 


666  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1815. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSON. 

NEW  YORK,  November  27,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR, — On  my  return  from  Washington  I  found  your 
welcome  letter  of  October  16,  which  my  friends  here,  daily 
expecting  my  return,  had  kept  instead  of  forwarding  it. 

Our  opinion  of  Bonaparte  is  precisely  the  same.  In  that 
La  Fayette's  and  every  friend  of  rational  liberty  in  France  did 
coincide.  The  return  of  that  man  was  generally  considered  by 
them  as  a  curse.  Notwithstanding  the  blunders  and  rooted 
prejudices  of  the  Bourbons,  the  alienation  of  the  army  and  the 
absolute  want  of  physical  force  had  made  them,  upon  the  whole, 
harmless,  and  as  soon  as  the  termination  of  the  congress  at 
Vienna  and  the  dissolution  of  the  coalition  would  have  left 
France  independent  of  foreign  interference,  they  must  in  the 
course  of  things  either  have  been  overset  or  have  governed 
according  to  public  opinion.  After  Bonaparte's  restoration,  it 
was  hoped  by  some  that  his  weakness  would  compel  him  to 
pursue  a  similar  course ;  others,  placing  confidence  in  the  decla 
rations  of  the  allies,  hoped  to  get  rid  both  of  him  and  of  the 
Bourbons.  All  saw  the  necessity  of  defending  the  country 
against  foreign  invasion,  but  the  fatal  catastrophe  was  not,  to 
its  full  extent,  anticipated  by  any.  I  call  it  a  catastrophe 
with  an  eye  only  to  the  present ;  for,  exhausted,  degraded,  and 
oppressed  as  France  now  is,  I  do  not  despair  of  her  ultimate 
success  in  establishing  her  independence  and  a  free  form  of 
government.  The  people  are  too  enlightened  to  submit  long  to 
any  but  a  military  despotism.  What  has  lately  passed  was  a 
scene  in  the  drama,  perhaps  necessary  to  effect  a  radical  cure  of 
that  love  of  conquest  which  had  corrupted  the  nation  and  made 
the  French  oppressors  abroad  and  slaves  at  home.  As  to  inde 
pendence,  we  have  the  recent  instance  of  Prussia,  which,  with  far 
inferior  population,  resources,  or  intellect,  arose  in  two  years  from 
almost  annihilation  to  the  rank  of  a  preponderating  power.  But, 
to  return  to  Bonaparte,  I  lament  to  see  our  Republican  editors  so 
much  dazzled  by  extraordinary  actions  or  carried  away  by  natural 
aversion  to  our  only  dangerous  enemy  as  to  take  up  the  cause  of 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC. 

that  despot  and  conqueror,  and  to  represent  him  as  the  champion 
of  liberty,  who  has  been  her  most  mortal  enemy,  whose  hatred  to 
republican  systems  was  founded  on  the  most  unbounded  selfish 
ness  and  on  the  most  hearty  contempt  for  mankind.  I  really 
wish  that  you  would  permit  me  to  publish,  or  rather  that  you 
would  publish,  your  opinions  on  that  subject.  This  might  have 
a  tendency  to  correct  those  which  are  daily  published,  and  which 
do  injury  to  our  cause  at  home,  to  our  country  abroad. 

Under  different  circumstances,  without  having  any  wish  for  a 
foreign  mission  or  a  residence  in  France,  I  might  have  accepted 
the  appointment  of  minister  there.  But,  satisfied  that  nothing 
can  at  this  moment  be  effected  in  that  country,  and  it  being  very 
reluctant  to  my  feelings  to  be  on  a  mission  to  a  degraded  mon 
arch  and  to  a  nation  under  the  yoke  of  foreign  armies,  I  thought 
that  I  might,  without  any  breach  of  public  duty  or  of  private 
gratitude,  consult  my  own  convenience,  and  I  have  accordingly 
officially  informed  our  government  that  I  declined  altogether  the 
appointment. 

On  the  lamentable  state  to  which  the  banks  have  reduced  the 
circulating  medium  of  the  country  there  ought  to  be  but  one 
opinion.  Yet  I  fear  with  you  that  there  will  be  no  legislative 
effectual  interference.  The  remedy  becomes  also  more  difficult 
every  day  it  is  delayed.  Specie,  for  which  there  is  no  use  but 
for  exportation,  is  hoarded  up  or  exported.  The  number  of 
borrowers  and  of  pretended  lenders,  equally  interested  in  con 
tinuing  and  extending  the  present  system  at  the  expense  of  the 
community,  daily  increases.  What  might  have  been  done  last 
April  with  perfect  facility  cannot  now  be  effected  without  causing 
much  clamor  and  some  distress,  and  if  delayed  much  longer  will 
not  be  done  at  all,  and  will  place  us  in  a  situation  similar  to  that 
of  Great  Britain.  I  have  no  patience  on.  that  subject.  The  war 
has  been  successfully  and  honorably  terminated ;  a  debt  of  no 
more  than  80  millions  incurred,  which,  as  we  had  paid  more 
than  40  during  your  Administration  and  till  the  war  began, 
makes  that  debt  only  40  millions  or  50  per  cent,  more  than  it 
was  in  March,  1801 ;  and  Louisiana  paid  for,  and  an  incipient  . 
navy  created  in  the  bargain ;  our  population  increased  in  the  / 
same,  and  our  resources  in  a  much  greater  proportion;  our 


668  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1815. 

revenue  greater  than  ever;  and  yet  we  are  guilty  of  a  continued 
breach  of  faith  towards  our  creditors,  our  soldiers,  our  seamen, 
our  civil  officers;  public  credit,  heretofore  supported  simply  by 
common  honesty,  declining  at  home  and  abroad ;  private  credit 
placed  on  a  still  more  uncertain  basis ;  the  value  of  property 
and  the  nature  of  every  person's  engagements  equally  uncertain ; 
a  baseless  currency  varying  every  fifty  miles  and  fluctuating 
everywhere, — all  this  done,  or  at  least  continued,  contrary  to 
common  sense  and  to  common  integrity,  not  only  without 
necessity  or  law,  but  in  the  face  of  positive  laws  and  of  the 
provisions  of  the  Constitution  itself.  Yet  a  majority  of  the 
Republican  papers  already  leans  to  that  system.  The  seat  of 
government  is  the  worst  focus  of  the  evil,  there  not  being  less 
than  14  banks  already  organized  in  the  District  of  Columbia, 
and  some  more  preparing.  The  language  of  several  of  the  bank 
directors  is  similar  to  that  of  Peter  to  his  brothers  in  the  Tale 
of  the  Tub.  They  insist  that  their  bread  (God  grant  it  was 
even  bread !)  is  good,  substantial  mutton,  that  their  rags  are  true 
solid  silver ;  and  some  of  them  do  already  damn  to  all  eternity 
every  unbeliever.  I  have,  however,  some  hope  that  the  magni 
tude  of  the  evil  will  produce  a  corrective,  and  I  cannot  help 
thinking  that  the  Treasury  will  now  be  so  rich  that  its  will 
would  alone  be  sufficient  to  prostrate  at  once  that  paper  fabric. 
I  have  also  indulged,  with  more  warmth  than  is  usual  to  me, 
in  a  political  effusion ;  but  I  have  been  so  long  wedded  to  the 
national  credit  and  integrity,  that  any  stain  which  attaches  to 
them  touches  me  in  a  very  tender  point. 

Ever  respectfully  and  affectionately  yours. 


GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

NEW  YORK,  November  30,  1815. 

SIR, — I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  a  copy  of  the  inofficial  note 
presented  to  the  Emperor  of  Russia  on  the  19th  of  June,  1814, 
and  alluded  to  in  my  letter  to  you  of  21st  of  same  month.  Its 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC. 

object  was  to  condense  in  as  small  a  compass  as  possible,  so  as  to 
have  a  chance  of  its  being  read  by  him,  the  argument  respecting 
the  question  of  impressment  and  the  terms  on  which  the  United 
States  were  disposed  to  make  peace.  ISTo  expectation  was  at  that 
time  entertained  of  any  efficient  interference  in  our  favor  on  the 
part  of  Russia.  But  it  appeared  important  to  preserve  in  the 
Emperor's  mind  a  favorable  opinion  of  the  grounds  on  which 
we  had  made  war,  of  the  rights  which  we  were  maintaining,  and 
of  our  general  pacific  disposition.  It  was  thought  eligible,  with 
out  diminishing  the  force  of  the  main  argument,  to  detach  it 
from  the  question  of  the  right  to  migrate,  which  Russia  might 
not  be  disposed  to  favor,  and  to  present  the  subject  in  that  view 
in  which  she  could  perceive  that  she  had  a  common  interest  with 
us.  Hence  the  allusions  in  the  note  to  the  British  practice  with 
respect  to  the  migration  of  their  own  subjects  and  to  the  nat 
uralization  of  foreigners,  as  well  as  to  the  concealed  objections  to 
our  not  employing  British  seamen  in  time  of  peace. 

Anticipating  the  extravagant  demands  which  the  British  gov 
ernment  was  disposed  to  make  at  Ghent,  and  knowing  the  pos 
sibility  of  the  note  reaching  that  government  through  some  of 
the  persons  near  the  Emperor,  it  was  deemed  proper,  as  it 
respected  both  Russia  and  England,  whilst  showing  the  most 
pacific  disposition,  explicitly  to  state  that  no  such  demands  would 
be  acceded  to. 

I  do  not  recollect  any  other  omission  in  my  correspondence, 
and  I  know  that  all  our  joint  despatches  from  Ghent  reached 
you.  But  I  will  thank  you  to  direct  a  memorandum  to  be  made 
out  and  transmitted  to  me  of  the  date  of  all  our  public  de 
spatches  from  St.  Petersburg,  and  of  all  my  letters  from  Europe, 
directed  to  the  Department  of  State,  which  have  been  received. 
This  will  enable  me  to  see  whether  there  is  any  which  did  not 
reach  you,  and  in  that  case  to  transmit  copies  to  you. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  respectfully,  sir,  your  obedient  servant. 


(570  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1815. 


GALLATIN   TO   JOSIAH   MEIGS. 


YORK,  December  4,  1815. 

SIR,  —  I  had  the  honor  to  receive  your  friendly  letter  of  17th 
ult.,  and  have  delayed  so  long  answering  it  from  hesitation  re 
specting  the  propriety  of  publishing  the  extract  of  my  letter  of 
19th  September,  1810,  to  Judge  Thruston.  There  are  in  that 
letter  some  allusions  to  a  circumstance  which  had  taken  place 
during  the  preceding  winter,  —  I  mean  a  most  unfounded  and 
wicked  charge,  that  I  had  speculated  or  was  in  some  shape 
connected  with  purchases  or  speculations  of  the  public  lands  of 
the  United  States.  The  charge  first  appeared  in  the  Virginia 
Argus,  whose  editor  refused  to  name  the  author;  and  it  was  ex 
pressed  in  so  vague  a  manner,  without  specification  of  facts,  that 
it  was  to  me  unintelligible,  and  left  me  no  means  to  refute  or 
repel  it  otherwise  than  by  a  simple  denial.  Some  member  of 
Congress  moved  for  an  inquiry,  which  motion,  the  charge  being 
vague  and  anonymous,  was  rejected  ;  and  thus  the  matter  has 
ever  since  remained,  false  in  itself,  unsupported  by  names  or 
facts,  and  yet,  I  dare  say,  propagated  by  enemies  and  believed 
by  some.  It  could  not,  therefore,  be  but  agreeable  to  me  that  a 
favorable  opportunity  should  offer  itself  of  proving  by  the  gen 
eral  records  of  the  land  office  that  my  conduct  (whilst  it  was 
under  my  superintendence)  was  uniformly  dictated  by  a  con 
scientious  sense  of  duty,  and  altogether  inconsistent  with  the 
supposition  of  my  being  concerned  in  any  purchases  of  any  kind. 
None  appears  in  my  name,  nor  is  there  any  act  of  mine,  a  single 
one  of  favoritism,  such  as  may  create  a  suspicion  of  my  being 
concerned  in  the  transaction,  or  as  might  be  expected  from  an 
officer  guilty  himself,  afraid  of  detection,  and  compelled  to  show 
undue  forbearance  to  speculators  less  culpable  than  himself;  yet 
I  apprehend  that  the  publication  of  my  letter  to  Judge  Thrus 
ton,  which  is  but  my  own  evidence  in  favor  of  myself,  might  be 
charged  to  improper  motives,  and,  not  being  called  for,  would 
have  the  appearance  of  ostentation  and  self-applause. 

Since,  however,  your  letter  offers  me  the  opportunity,  I  beg 
leave  to  avail  myself  of  it  for  the  purpose  of  placing  on  the 


1815.  LET  TEES,    ETC.  671 

files  of  your  office  my  explicit  denial  of  the  charge,  and  such 
observations  on  my  landed  property  as  may  prove  its  falsity. 

I  suppose  it  unnecessary  to  say  anything  respecting  my  (home) 
property  in  Pennsylvania,  on  the  banks  of  the  Monongahela. 
All  the  other  lands  I  own,  or  have  ever  owned  or  been  con 
cerned  in,  are  in  the  States  of  Virginia,  Ohio,  or  Kentucky. 
Of  these  there  is  but  one  acquired  since  I  was  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  in  the  following  manner.  A  Nova  Scotia  refugee, 
named  Samuel  Rogers,  being  in  Washington  in  the  year  1803, 
destitute  of  money,  I  lent  him  one  hundred  dollars,  for  which 
he  pledged  to  me  a  tract  of  36  acres  in  the  State  of  Ohio,  being 
one  of  those  allowed  to  him  for  his  losses  as  refugee.  I  gave 
him  an  instrument  of  writing  obliging  myself  to  reconvey  the 
land  on  his  repaying  the  money  within  a  limited  number  of 
years,  which  has  expired.  He  has  not  redeemed  the  land,  nor 
have  I  heard  of  him  these  ten  years.  Considering  the  land  as 
only  pledged,  I  have  uniformly  refused  to  sell  it,  although  sev 
eral  offers  have  been  made  to  purchase  it.  Mr.  Nourse,  Regis 
ter  of  the  Treasury,  was  a  witness  to  the  whole  transaction,  and 
[had]  the  goodness  to  draw  the  necessary  writings. 

With  that  single  exception,  all  my  other  lands  lying  as  above 
stated  in  the  States  of  Virginia,  Ohio,  and  Kentucky  were  ac 
quired  prior  to  my  holding  the  office  of  Secretary  of  the  Treas 
ury,  and,  moreover,  not  an  acre  ever  was  the  property  of  the 
United  States,  being  all  derived  from  Virginia  titles ;  most  of 
them  purchased  and  located  in  the  years  1784-1785,  some  in 
1795,  two  by  exchange  in  1800.  For  three  of  them,  contain 
ing  together  1700  acres,  being  Virginia  military  lands  located 
in  the  State  of  Ohio,  I  obtained  the  patents  subsequent  to  my 
being  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  warrant  on  which  they 
were  founded  I  had  purchased  in  1784;  they  were  located  for 
me  by  Major  Hardin,  who  was  killed  by  the  Indians  in  1794; 
they  were  all  three  surveyed  prior  to  my  holding  the  office  of 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  The  patents  for  all  the  other  lands 
are  of  a  prior  date. 

I  will  add  that  I  sold  no  lands  whilst  I  was  at  the  head  of 
the  Treasury.  What  I  now  have  I  had  (with  the  exception  of 
Rogers's  tract)  when  I  came  in  office,  and  what  I  had  then  I 


672  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

now  have ;  I  neither  acquired  or  sold,  increased  or  decreased  the 
amount  whilst  in  office,  nor,  with  the  exception  of  that  tract, 
am  I  or  was  I  ever  concerned  or  interested,  either  in  my  name 
or  that  of  any  other,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  purchase,  sale, 
grant,  or  acquisition  of  any  of  the  public  lands  of  the  United 
States. 

You  will  excuse  my  having  said  so  much  on  that  subject.  It 
is  with  great  reluctance  that  I  can  bring  myself  to  answer  ac 
cusations  so  unfounded,  so  absurd  (since,  if  true,  I  was  liable  to 
be  impeached),  so  unworthy,  I  may  say,  of  my  general  char 
acter.  I  felt  equally  reluctant  to  trouble  any  person  with  a 
subject  of  a  personal  nature.  But  I  have  stated  my  motive  for 
saying  what  I  have;  and  the  friendly  motives  which  dictated 
your  letter  have  encouraged  me  in  doing  it. 

Wishing  that  you  may  fully  succeed  in  your  honorable  en 
deavors  to  defend  and  preserve  the  patrimony  of  the  people  of 
the  United  States  against  every  unprincipled  attack,  I  have  the 
honor  to  be,  with  sincere  esteem  and  respect,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant. 

P.S. — I  may  still  add  that  all  my  lands  (those  at  and  near  New 
Geneva  on  the  Monongahela  excepted)  are  not  together  worth 
and  would  not  sell  for  twelve  thousand  dollars. 


MONROE   TO  GALLATIN. 

"WASHINGTON,  December  4,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR, — It  is  only  this  moment  that  I  find  with  regret 
that  the  passport  which  you  requested  for  Mr.  Christie  has  not 
been  forwarded  to  you.  I  now  send  one  in  the  hope  that  it  will 
arrive  in  time. 

To  your  other  letter  I  have  felt  a  repugnance  to  give  a 
reply.  We  have  been  long  in  the  public  service  together,  en 
gaged  in  support  of  the  same  great  cause,  have  acted  in  har 
mony,  and  it  is  distressing  to  me  to  see  you  withdraw.  I  will 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC.  573 

write  you  again  on  this  subject  soon.  We  are  happy  to  hear 
that  you  arrived  safe.  Our  best  respects  and  wishes  to  Mrs. 
Gallatin. 

I  am,  dear  sir,  with  great  respect  and  esteem,  sincerely  yours. 


GALLATIN  TO  A.  J.  DALLAS. 

NEW  YORK,  12th  December,  1815. 

SIR, — The  order  to  cause  the  ship  American  Eagle  to  be 
seized  and  libelled  having  been  transmitted  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  whilst  I  held  the  office,  Mr.  Gelston  has  repeatedly 
called  on  me  on  that  subject,  and,  finding  himself  in  a  very  per 
plexing  situation,  he  has  concluded  to  go  to  Washington  in  order 
to  confer  with  you  thereupon.  You  know  that  the  presumed 
owners  of  the  ship  have  recovered  a  sum  exceeding  one  hundred 
thousand  dollars  damages.  The  judgment  will  certainly  be 
affirmed  in  January  next  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  this  State ; 
and  in  order  to  bring  the  cause  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  it  is  necessary,  in  the  first  place,  to  carry  it  by 
writ  of  error  before  the  Court  of  Errors  (the  Senate)  of  this 
State.  The  suit  cannot  be  removed,  under  the  Act  of  Congress 
of  last  session,  to  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,  inas 
much  as  the  Act  will  expire  before  that  court  can  take  cogni 
zance  of  the  suit ;  and  even  if  it  could  be  immediately  thus 
removed,  there  being  no  provision  in  the  Act  for  the  continu 
ance  of  suits  commenced  under  it,  its  expiring  would,  according 
to  repeated  decisions  (one  particularly  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  United  States  in  a  St.  Domingo  case),  be  fatal  to  all  suits 
pending  at  such  time. 

In  order  to  carry  a  suit  from  the  Supreme  Court  to  the  Court 
of  Errors  of  this  State  it  is  necessary,  by  a  statute,  that  actual 
security  should  be  given  for  the  payment  of  the  amount  of  the 
judgment  and  costs,  amounting  together,  in  this  case,  to  a  sum 
exceeding  120,000  dollars.  Such  security  is  not  unusual  in 
other  courts;  for  I  recollect,  in  the  case  of  the  Charming 
Betsy,  in  which  you  were  concerned  for  Commodore  Murray, 
VOL.  i. — 44 


674  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

government  was  obliged,  in  some  stage  of  the  suit,  to  direct  one 
of  its  officers  to  give  the  required  security  at  Philadelphia. 

It  is  from  that  circumstance  that  arises  the  immediate  em 
barrassment  of  Mr.  Gelston.  He  cannot  find  security  for  such 
an  amount.  His  estate  is  far  from  being  equal  to  it.  It  un 
avoidably  follows  that,  unless  relieved  by  government,  his  prop 
erty  will  be  seized  and  himself  be  imprisoned  in  a  few  weeks. 

With  respect  to  the  chance  of  having  the  judgment  reversed, 
or  the  amount  of  damages  diminished,  by  prosecuting  the  suit 
through  every  possible  stage,  I  think  there  is  no  probability  of 
success.  The  facts  which  gave  rise  to  the  seizure  are  susceptible 
of  demonstration.  It  can  be  fully  established  that  the  ship  was 
intended  for,  or  actually  the  property  of,  Petion.  And  I  believe 
the  damages,  supposing  the  seizure  to  have  been  illegal  and  Hoyt 
to  be  really  the  person  entitled  to  them,  to  be  altogether  exorbitant. 
But  I  understand  that  from  the  nature  of  the  pleas,  and  from 
the  decision  of  the  courts  below,  neither  of  those  questions  can 
now  be  agitated ;  that  the  only  question  which  can  be  brought 
before  either  the  Court  of  Errors  or  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  is  whether  the  ship,  taking  the  record  alone  in 
consideration,  was  liable  to  seizure  in  the  manner  in  which  she 
was  seized  under  the  Act  of  1794,  and  that  that  question  will, 
as  the  record  stands,  be  simply  whether  Petion  can  be  considered 
as  a  prince  or  state  within  the  meanings  of  the  Act ;  that  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  will  decide  the  question  in 
the  negative  is  relied  on,  on  account  of  a  former  decision  that 
San  Domingo  could  not  by  the  courts  be  considered  as  an  inde 
pendent  state.  Not  having  seen  the  record,  I  may  not  have 
stated  the  case  with  perfect  precision  :  but  the  outline  is  sub 
stantially  correct,  and  the  lawyers  who  have  been  employed  in 
the  case,  and  with  whom  I  have  conversed,  are  certainly  of 
opinion  that  a  further  prosecution  of  the  suit  will  be  productive 
of  delays  and  increased  costs  without  any  reasonable  prospect  of 
altering  the  decision. 

It  is  at  Mr.  Gelston's  request  that  I  have  thus  addressed  you, 
and  I  have  complied  with  his  wish  with  pleasure,  from  the  knowl 
edge  that  he  had  only  been  an  agent  of  government  in  the  trans 
action,  and  had  through  the  whole  performed  his  duty  faithfully, 


1815.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  (575 

and  nothing  more  than  his  duty.  Permit  me  to  add,  in  regard 
to  the  merits  of  the  case,  that  if  the  seizure  was  illegal  under 
the  Act  of  1794,  it  follows  that  this  Act  has  not  provided  for 
the  case  of  vessels  intended  to  be  employed  by  a  rebel  colony 
(so  called)  against  the  mother-country,  and  that  San  Domingo, 
or  any  other  country  in  a  similar  situation,  must  be  considered 
as  being  neither  independent  nor  part  of  the  mother-country; 
for  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that,  when  the  seizure  in  question 
took  place,  France  was  at  war  with  Great  Britain.  If  this  de 
cision,  which  I  do  not  pretend  to  arraign,  be  correct,  how  can  the 
President  maintain  the  neutrality  of  the  United  States  during  the 
contest  between  the  Spanish  colonies  and  Spain,  or  any  similar 
one  ?  It  was  at  all  events  his  duty,  until  such  decision  had  taken 
place,  to  avail  himself  of  the  powers  supposed  to  have  been  vested 
by  the  Act  of  1794,  in  order  to  arrest  armaments  compromising 
the  neutrality  and  peace  of  the  United  States.  It  might  at  least 
have  been  presumed  that  to  bring  such  important  question  before 
the  courts,  under  an  Act  at  least  of  doubtful  construction,  could 
not  have  subjected  the  agent  of  government  to  damages,  and 
that  a  certificate  of  reasonable  cause  of  seizure  would  have  been 
granted  by  the  district  judge.  His  refusal  to  do  it,  he  being  the 
officer  vested  by  law  with  the  discretionary  power  of  granting  or 
refusing  it,  has  been  fatal  in  all  the  stages  of  the  subsequent  suit 
for  damages  against  the  collector.  There  is,  however,  no  remedy, 
and  I  sincerely  hope  that,  whether  it  be  thought  eligible  or  not 
that  the  suit  should  be  carried  through  every  remaining  attain 
able  stage,  he  will  be  relieved  from  the  distressing  situation  in 
which  he  has  been  placed. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be,  respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 


MONROE    TO    GALLATIN. 

WASHINGTON,  December  16,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR,— An  attack  of  the  prevailing  epidemic  has  pre 
vented  my  writing  you  as  soon  as  I  intended. 

The  prospect  of  a  separation  of  France  from  England,  and  of 


676  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

a  better  understanding  between  France,  Russia,  and  the  United 
States,  has  made  it  probable  that  the  situation  of  our  minister  in 
Paris  will  be  more  eligible  than  circumstances  seemed  to  admit 
when  you  were  here.  The  appointment  of  the  Duke  of  Richelieu 
was  made  in  opposition  to  the  British  Cabinet,  and  was  resented 
by  the  Duke  of  Wellington  in  an  open  and  harsh  manner.  It 
is  understood  to  have  been  made  at  the  instigation  of  the  Em 
peror  Alexander,  with  a  view  to  acquire  an  interest  in  the  French 
Cabinet  at  the  expense  of  the  British.  These  circumstances, 
taken  together,  inspire  hope  of  a  division  between  Russia  and 
England,  which  may  operate  advantageously  for  France.  Since 
you  were  here,  I  have  received  a  letter  from  the  Duke  of  Riche 
lieu  announcing  his  appointment,  and  expressing  in  strong  terms 
a  desire  to  cultivate  a  good  understanding  between  the  United 
States  and  France.  As  he  intimated  at  the  same  time,  in  a  note 
to  Mr.  Jackson,  his  willingness  to  communicate  with  him  on 
public  affairs,  whereby  the  ordinary  channel  was  opened  and 
waived,  I  have  thought  that  some  importance  might  be  attached 
to  the  preference  thus  given  to  a  direct  notification  to  this  De 
partment,  favorable  to  the  presumed  independence  of  France 
and  to  the  respectability  and  utility  of  our  minister  at  Paris. 
I  wish  I  could  add  that  the  salary  would  be  increased.  The 
reasons  for  it  are  conclusive,  and  the  President  is  decidedly  for 
it,  as  I  have  long  been;  but  that  will  depend  on  Congress. 
Your  declension  has  not  been  made  public,  so  that  it  is  still  in 
your  power  to  accept  the  mission  if,  on  reconsideration,  you 
are  so  disposed.  I  have  thought  that  these  circumstances  were 
entitled  to  some  attention,  and  have,  therefore,  communicated 
them.  Should  they,  or  any  other  cause,  produce  a  change  in 
your  mind,  I  will  thank  you  to  have  the  goodness  to  inform  me 
of  it. 

With  great  respect  and  esteem,  I  am,  dear  sir,  very  truly 
yours. 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC.  377 

GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

Private. 

NEW  YORK,  26th  December,  1815. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  friendly  letters  of  4th  and 
16th  instant,  and  have  a  grateful  sense  of  the  motives  which 
dictated  them.    I  can  assure  you  that  I  feel  a  great  reluctance  to 
part  with  my  personal  and  political  friends,  and  that  every  con 
sideration  merely  personal  to   myself  and  detached  from   my 
family  urges  a-continuance  in  public  life.    My  habits  are  formed 
and  cannot  be  altered.    I  feel  alive  to  everything  connected  with 
the  interest,  happiness,  and  reputation  of  the  United  States. 
Whatever  affects  unfavorably  either  of  them  makes  me  more 
unhappy  than  any  private  loss  or  inconvenience.     Although  I 
have  nothing  to  do  with  it,  the  continued  suspension  of  specie 
payments,  which  I  consider  as  a  continued  unnecessary  violation 
of  the  public  faith,  occupies  my  thoughts  more  than  any  other 
subject.     I  feel  as  a  passenger  in  a  storm,  vexed  that  I  cannot 
assist.     This  I  understand  to  be  very  generally  the  feeling  of 
every  statesman  out  of  place.     Be  this  as  it  may,  although  I 
did  and  do  believe  that,  for  the  present  at  least,  I  could  not  be 
of  much  public  utility  in  France,  I  did,  in  my  private  letter  to 
the  President,  place  my  declining  on  the  ground  of  private  con 
siderations.     In  that  respect  my  views  are  limited  to  the  mere 
means  of  existence  without  falling  in  debt.     I  do  not  wish  to 
accumulate  any  property.     I  will  not  do  my  family  the  injury 
of  impairing  the  little  I  have.     My  health  is  frail ;  they  may 
soon  lose   me,  and  I  will  not  leave  them  dependent  on  the 
bounty  of  others.     Was  I  to  go  to  France,  and  my  compen 
sation  and  private  income  (this  last  does  not  exceed  2500  dollars 
a  year)  did  not  enable  me  to  live  as  I  ought,  I  must  live  as  I 
can.     I  ask  your  forgiveness  for  entering  in  those  details ;  but 
you  have  treated  me  as  a  friend,  and  I  write  to  you  as  such. 
You  have  from  friendship  wished  that  I  would  reconsider  my 
first  decision,  and  I  will  avail  myself  of  the  permission.     It 
will  be  understood  that  in  the  mean  while,  if  the  delay  is  at 
tended  with  any  public  inconvenience,  a  new  appointment  may 


678  WRITINGS     OF     GALLATIN.  1815. 

immediately  take  place.  My  motive  for  writing  when  I  did 
was  a  fear  that,  specially  with  respect  to  other  missions,  the 
belief  that  I  would  go  to  France  might  induce  the  President  to 
make  different  arrangements  from  those  he  would  have  adopted 
on  a  contrary  supposition.  I  will  write  to  Mr.  Cra\\ford,  in 
order  to  ascertain  with  precision  the  rate  of  living  and  other 
points  connected  with  the  subject.  As  to  any  increase  of  com 
pensation,  I  am  sensible  of  the  difficulties  which  may  oppose 
its  being  done  by  Congress.  The  general  argument  in  favor  of 
it  is  that  the  prices  and  rate  of  expense  have  increased  at  least  50 
per  cent,  in  Europe  since  the  year  1790,  when  the 'present  salaries 
were  established.  The  last  Act  now  in  force  certainly  requires 
revision.  It  would  afford  relief,  if  nothing  else  can  be  obtained, 
that  Congress  should  permit,  in  addition  to  the  secretary  of  lega 
tion,  an  allowance  of  1500  dollars  a  year  for  a  private  secretary, 
and  should  also  allow  house-rent,  not  to  exceed  the  price  actually 
paid,  nor  in  any  case  a  fixed  sum,  say  2000  dollars.  There  is  a 
kind  of  precedent, — the  United  States  having  purchased  a  house 
at  the  Hague  for  their  minister.  The  compensation  for  minis 
ters  was  also  higher  during  the  Revolutionary  war  than  at  present. 
It  was  reduced  from  £  sterling  to  the  present  sum  in  1790. 
I  have  thrown  in  those  suggestions,  as  they  may  be  used  in 
regard  to  the  general  question  and  independent  of  my  case. 

With  great  respect  and  esteem,  &c. 


MEMOKANDUM.l 

1815? 

In  the  latter  end  of  May  or  beginning  of  June,  1812,  Mr. 
Astor,  of  New  York  (who  had,  with  the  knowledge  of  govern 
ment,  purchased  one-half  of  the  British  concern  in  what  is  called 
the  Southwest  or  Michilimackinac  Fur  Company),  stated  that 
in  the  event  of  a  war  the  arms,  powder,  and  other  merchandise 
which  he  had  at  St.  Joseph's,  on  Lake  Huron,  would  fall  in  the 

1  u  De  Astor  and  communications  by  the  Treasury  to  collectors  before  the 
declaration  of  war."  Note  by  Mr.  Gallatin. 


1815.  LETTERS,    ETC.  (579 

hands  of  the  Indians  or  British,  and  requested  that  an  order 
might  be  given  to  the  officers  of  the  United  States  to  receive 
that  property,  the  admission  of  which  was  prohibited  by  the 
Non-Intercourse  Act.  The  President  thought  the  subject  of 
sufficient  importance  to  give  directions  to  that  effect;  and  ac 
cordingly  a  letter  was  written  to  General  Hull  by  Mr.  Eustis, 
and  another  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  to  the  collectors 
of  Detroit  and  Michilimackinac  on  the  subject  (Mr.  Sheldon 
will  send  to  Mr.  Dallas  an  attested  copy  of  the  last).  Those 
letters  were  written  by  duplicate,  one  transmitted  to  Mr.  Astor 
and  the  other  sent  by  mail,  either  under  cover  of  General  Hull 
or  of  the  collector  of  Detroit.  Mr.  Atwater  (the  said  collector) 
received  one  (but  which  is  not  known),  which  did  not  reach 
him  till  after  the  capture  of  Michilimackinac.  No  other  com 
munication  respecting  Mr.  Astor  was  made  by  the  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury. 

He  gave  information  of  the  war  neither  to  Mr.  Astor  nor  to 
any  other  person.  Mr.  Astor  did  not  believe  in  its  probability, 
notwithstanding  the  precaution  which  he  wanted  to  be  taken, 
and  heard  of  the  declaration  on  his  way  to  Washington,  between 
that  place  and  Baltimore. 

Whether  or  how  Mr.  Astor  or  his  clerk  transmitted  the 
account  to  Canada  I  cannot  say ;  but  I  am  certain  that  none 
was  sent  by  either  till  after  the  official  account  had  been  received 
at  New  York.  This  it  is  not  for  me  to  explain.  I  will  add 
that  the  news  of  the  war  was  sent  by  express  to  General  Hull, 
who  must  necessarily  have  known  of  that  event  some  time  before 
the  British.  It  has  been  said  that  his  despatches  containing  that 
account  (which  he  did  not  communicate  to  the  army)  were  by 
him  put  in  a  vessel,  which  was  of  course  taken  by  the  British ; 
but  it  is  probable  that  an  account  from  New  York  via  Niagara 
would  reach  St.  Joseph's  and  Michilimackinac  long  before  the 
news  from  Washington  would  arrive. 

Memorandum.  Astor's  letters  of  21st  and  22d  June,  1812, 
received  by  Abbot  on  9th  July.  On  10th,  Atwater  gave  copy 
of  Treasury  letter,  which,  with  Astor's  letters  to  Day  &  Dixon, 
were  forwarded  to  Michilimackinac  by  Jacob  Smith.  He  re- 


680  WRITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1816. 

turned  on  29th,  and  brought  news  of  capture  of  Michilimackinac 
on  16th.  General  Hull  opened  and  detained  letters  to  Day  & 
Dixon  on  Smith's  return. 


GALLATIN   TO   CLAY. 

NEW  YORK,  4th  January,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  received  your  letter  of  31st  ult.,  and 
am  enabled,  from  "our  correspondence  and  notes  of  conferences, 
to  give  a  satisfactory  answer  to  your  inquiry  respecting  the 
effect,  on  our  intercourse  with  the  British  West  Indies,  of  the 
provisions  of  the  convention  as  they  now  stand. 

On  7th  of  June  we  delivered  to  the  British  plenipotentiaries 
our  projet  of  treaty,  containing,  as  part  of  the  2d  Article,  the 
following  provision,  viz.:  "No  other  or  higher  duties  or  charges 
shall  be  imposed  in  any  of  the  ports  of  the  United  States  on 
British  vessels  (such  only  excepted  as  may  be  bound  from  or  to 
British  possessions  into  which  vessels  of  the  United  States  are 
not  admitted)  than  shall  be  payable  in  the  said  ports  by  vessels 
of  the  United  States ;  nor,  &c." 

On  the  16th  of  June  the  British  plenipotentiaries  sent  us  their 
contre-projet,  containing  the  same  provision,  but  omitting  the 
exception  provided  for  by  the  words  between  ( )  in  our  projet. 

On  the  17th  of  June  we  addressed  a  note  to  the  British 
plenipotentiaries,  proposing,  among  other  alterations,  in  their 
contre-projet  the  following,  viz. : 

"Article  2d.  Istly.  .  .  .  2dly.  To  reinstate  the  clause  in  the 
projet  of  the  undersigned,  which  excepted  from  the  provision  to 
equalize  tonnage  duties  British  vessels  bound  to  or  from  posses 
sions  to  which  vessels  of  the  United  States  were  not  permanently 
admitted;  or  to  introduce  a  new  article  providing  that  neither  the 
intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  his  British  Majesty's 
possessions  in  the  West  Indies,  nor  that  by  sea  between  the  said 
States  and  his  British  Majesty's  territories  on  the  continent  of 
North  America,  shall  be  affected  by  any  article  in  the  treaty,  but 
that  each  party  shall  remain  in  the  complete  possession  of  its 
rights  in  respect  to  such  an  intercourse." 


1816.  LETTERS,    ETC.  ggj 

The  British  plenipotentiaries  reduced  to  writing,  in  their  note 
of  20th  of  June,  the  substance  of  the  observations  made  in  a 
conference  of  the  19th  on  the  several  points  contained  in  our 
note  of  the  17th;  in  which  note  of  the  20th  they  say,  "upon  the 
second  point  referred  to  in  the  note  of  the  American  plenipoten 
tiaries  the  undersigned  expressed  their  readiness  to  agree  to  a 
clause  which  should  contain  the  latter  alternative  suggested  by 
the  American  plenipotentiaries." 

The  clause  was  accordingly  inserted  as  it  now  stands  in  the 
2d  Article  of  the  convention,  omitting  the  words  which  I  have 
underscored,  and  which  had  reference  to  the  then  still  pending 
article  to  provide  for  an  intercourse  by  land  with  the  North 
American  British  colonies,  and  substituting  the  words  "any  of 
the  provisions  of  this  article"  to  those  any  article  in  the  treaty,  as, 
by  the  convention  as  signed,  the  2d  Article  alone  could  affect  the 
subject. 

We  were  induced  to  offer  the  alternative,  because  the  words 
used  in  it  answer  the  proposed  object  as  well  as  those  we  had 
first  proposed,  being,  in  fact,  not  only  as  explicit  but  more  com 
prehensive;  and  because,  having  been  used  with  the  same  avowed 
intent  in  the  unratified  treaty  of  31st  December,  1806,  and  then 
understood  and  approved  by  both  governments,  they  could  not 
be  objected  to  by  the  British  plenipotentiaries. 

In  that  treaty  a  partial  abolition  of  discriminating  duties  is, 
without  excepting  vessels  from  British  colonies,  provided  for 
in  the  5th  Article;  and  then  a  distinct  article  (the  6th)  pro 
vides  that,  with  respect  to  the  intercourse  with  the  British  West 
Indies,  "each  of  the  parties  shall  remain  in  the  complete  posses 
sion  of  its  rights  in  respect  to  such  an  intercourse."  The  clause 
in  the  convention  not  only  extends  the  principle  to  the  British 
possessions  on  the  continent  of  North  America,  but  is  still  more 
precise  than  the  6th  Article  of  the  unratified  treaty  by  the  ad 
dition  of  the  words,  that  the  intercourse  aforesaid  "shall  not  be 
affected  by  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  article." 

The  instructions  given  on  that  subject  by  our  government  to 
Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney  were  (in  the  instructions  of  May 
17,  1806),  that  "care  must  be  taken  not  to  deprive  the  United 
States  of  the  right  of  making  such  regulations  as  they  may  think 


682  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1816. 

proper  in  relation  to  vessels  coming  from  ports  from  which  their 
own  vessels  are  excluded,  or  in  relation  generally  to  the  inter 
course  with  such  ports;"  and  (in  the  instructions  of  3d  February, 
1807,  written  before  the  receipt  of  the  treaty)  that  "  if  the  West 
India  trade  cannot  be  put  on  some  footing  as  is  authorized  by 
your  instructions,  it  will  evidently  be  best  to  leave  it  as  it  is,  and 
of  course  with  a  freedom  to  either  party  to  make  such  regulations 
as  may  be  justified  by  those  of  the  other." 

Messrs.  Monroe  and  Pinkney  in  their  letter  of  January  3, 
1807,  alluding  to  that  part  of  the  treaty,  say,  "we  have,  as  you 
will  perceive,  in  conformity  with  our  instructions,  reserved  the 
right  to  our  government  to  counteract  any  regulations  by  which 
the  British  government  may  exclude  us  from  a  fair  participation 
in  that  commerce.  .  .  .  The  reservation  cannot  fail  to  be  con 
sidered  by  it  as  a  powerful  weapon  of  defence,  to  be  used  when 
occasion  calls  for  it,  &c." 

The  treaty  was  not  ratified.  The  Secretary  of  State  in  his 
letter  of  20th  of  May,  1807,  enumerates  the  objections  of  our 
government  to  that  instrument,  and,  although  he  does  object  to 
part  of  the  5th  Article  (for  not  abolishing  discriminating  duties 
on  exports,  which  we  have  obtained),  he  does  not  require  any 
greater  security  with  respect  to  the  West  India  intercourse,  and 
approves  the  6th  Article. 

Although  that  treaty  was  a  theme  of  discussion,  it  never  was 
hinted  by  either  party  that  it  was  defective  in  that  respect.  I 
am  indeed  confident  that  the  objection  would  not  now  have 
been  made  had  it  not  been  suggested  by  the  expressions  used  in 
our  first  projet.  But  that  the  words  adopted  fully  imply  the 
right  of  laying  an  additional  duty  on  British  vessels  from  the 
British  West  Indies,  anything  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding 
in  the  other  provisions  of  the  article,  is  indisputable. 

The  British  government  understand  the  clause  in  no  other 
sense.  It  was  susceptible  of  no  other;  and,  in  addition  to  our 
explicit  declarations,  they  were  in  full  possession  of  the  instruc 
tions  and  correspondence  above  quoted,  which  leave  no  doubt  on 
the  intention  of  the  parties. 

Truly  yours. 


1816.  LETTERS,    ETC.  683 

MONROE   TO   GALLATIN. 

Private. 

WASHINGTON,  January  27,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  had  hoped  that  it  would  have  been  in  my 
power  to  have  assured  you  before  this  that  the  salary  of  our 
ministers  abroad  would  be  raised,  or  the  accommodation  in 
house-rent  and  a  private  secretary  afforded ;  but  I  can  say  no 
thing  yet  with  any  degree  of  certainty  on  these  points.  The 
business  of  the  session  advances  slowly,  and  although  the  dispo 
sition  to  sound  measures  is  generally  favorable,  there  is  cause  to 
apprehend  that  a  proposition  to  that  effect  at  this  time  would 
be  opposed  by  some  not  from  the  sole  consideration  that  they 
thought  such  an  arrangement  improper.  All  that  can  be  said 
is  that  the  opinion  of  the  Executive  is  favorable  to  such  an  aug 
mentation,  and  that  it  will  do  all  that  it  can  with  propriety  to 
promote  it.  Much  time  must  necessarily  elapse  before  this  can 
be  done,  or  a  decision  on  it,  either  way,  be  obtained.  In  the 
mean  time,  great  solicitude  is  shown  here  respecting  the  missions 
to  France  and  Russia,  proceeding  from  the  state  of  public  affairs. 
The  President  must  put  them  in  train,  or  discontent  will  soon 
manifest  itself.  No  step  will  be  taken  without  hearing  from 
you,  and  we  both  indulge  a  hope  that  it  may  be  convenient  to 
you  to  accept  the  mission  to  France,  especially  as  there  is  reason 
to  presume  that  the  expense  of  living  has  been  much  diminished 
in  France,  in  consequence  of  the  general  peace  in  Europe.  We 
see  by  the  papers  that  it  has  already  produced  that  effect  in 
England. 

Mr.  Serurier  is  recalled,  and  his  secretary,  Mr.  Roth,  ap 
pointed  charge  des  affaires.  This  is  done  perhaps  merely  to 
get  rid  of  the  former;  still,  the  movements  of  that  government 
require  attention.  The  temper  of  the  Spanish  government 
and  the  state  of  affairs  with  Spain  excite  feeling.  England 
will  profit  of  circumstances,  and  we  know  not  enough  of  the 
councils  of  the  Emperor  of  Russia  to  infer  that  he  will  check 
any  measures  of  other  powers  unfavorable  to  the  United  States. 
In  short,  the  present  state  of  the  world  urges  the  strongest 


684  WHITINGS     OP     GALLATIN.  1816. 

reasons  in  favor  of  our  being  ably  represented  with  those  gov 
ernments. 

I  beg  you  to  present  Mrs.  Monroe's  and  my  best  respects  to 
Mrs.  Gallatin,  and  believe  me  to  be,  with  great  respect  and 
esteem,  dear  sir,  sincerely  yours. 

I  will  send  you  by  Monday's  mail  a  copy  of  a  communication 
which  has  lately  passed  between  this  Department  and  Mr.  Onis. 
It  will  be  published. 


GALLATIN   TO   JOHN  FORSYTE,   M.C. 

NEW  YORK,  31st  January,  1816. 

SIR, — I  do  not  know  whether  the  debates  of  Congress  on  the 
bill  for  carrying  into  effect  the  convention  with  Great  Britain 
have  been  correctly  reported.  If  they  have,  it  seems  that  some 
important  facts  concerning  the  former  practice  under  our  gov 
ernment  have  not  been  noticed.  I  see  it  asserted  in  the  course 
of  debate  that  the  provisions  in  the  treaty  of  1794,  which 
affected  our  revenue  laws,  were  considered  as  law  and  not  re 
quiring  legislative  sanction  to  carry  them  into  effect,  and  that 
the  bill  lately  before  the  House  was  the  first  attempt  of  that 
kind  and  would  therefore  be  a  dangerous  precedent. 

Both  assertions  are  utterly  destitute  of  foundation.  The 
provisions  in  the  treaty  of  1794,  alluded  to,  were  carried  into 
effect  by  Act  of  Congress ;  and  so  far  from  it  being  true  that 
the  bill  was  an  attempt  for  the  first  time  made,  that  there  is  no 
instance  of  a  treaty  made  since  the  adoption  of  the  present  form 
of  government,  and  containing  provisions  inconsistent  with  the 
present  revenue  laws,  in  which  it  has  not  been  thought  necessary 
to  give  effect  to  such  provisions  by  a  legislative  act. 

Three  treaties  only  have  contained  provisions  of  that  nature, 
viz.,  the  treaty  of  1794  with  Great  Britain,  the  treaty  with 
Spain  of  1795,  and  the  treaty  with  France  of  1803  respecting 
the  cession  of  Louisiana. 

It  was  agreed  by  the  3d  Article  of  the  treaty  of  1794  that 


1816.  LETTERS,    ETC.  685 

merchandise  imported  into  the  United  States  from  the  British 
territories  in  North  America,  by  land  or  inland  navigation, 
should  be  subject  to  no  higher  duties  than  would  be  payable 
if  imported  in  American  vessels  into  the  Atlantic  ports  of  the 
said  States, — a  provision  perfectly  similar,  so  far  as  respected  the 
intercourse  by  land  with  Canada,  to  that  introduced  in  the  late 
convention  with  respect  to  the  intercourse  with  the  European 
British  territories,  and  which  was  equally  inconsistent  with  the 
existing  revenue  laws,  which  then,  as  now,  imposed  an  additional 
duty  of  ten  per  cent,  on  the  duty  imposed  on  merchandise  im 
ported  in  American  vessels,  when  the  importation  was  made  in 
foreign  vessels.  The  same  3d  Article  contained  also  several 
other  provisions,  either  inconsistent  with  existing  laws  or  em 
bracing  objects  within  the  sphere  of  the  legislative  powers  of 
Congress,  such  as  the  exemption  of  duty  on  peltries,  on  goods 
belonging  to  Indians,  and  on  merchandise  carried  over  the 
portages ;  the  regulations  of  rates  of  ferriage ;  the  general  per 
mission  to  import  all  goods  not  altogether  prohibited,  &c.  The 
Western  posts  were  not  delivered  to  us  till  the  year  1797;  and 
it  was  only  in  1799  that  revenue  districts  and  custom-houses 
were  established  by  law  on  Lakes  Ontario,  Erie,  and  Huron. 
The  same  Act  which  established  those,— the  "Act  to  regulate  the 
collection  of  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage," — passed  on  the 
2d  March,  1799,  contains  also  several  sections  enacted  for  the 
purpose  of  conforming  the  Act  to  the  stipulations  of  the  treaty 
of  1794,  above  mentioned.  Those  sections  are  the  104th  and 
105th  of  the  Act  (4th  vol.,  pages  440-1),  and  embrace  all  the 
provisions  of  the  3d  Article  of  the  treaty  to  which  I  have 
alluded. 

It  was  agreed  by  the  7th  Article  of  the  treaty  of  30th  April, 
1803,  with  France  that  French  and  Spanish  produce  respectively 
imported  in  Louisiana  in  French  or  Spanish  vessels  should  pay 
no  higher  duty  during  twelve  years  than  merchandise  imported 
in  American  vessels.  That  provision,  also  inconsistent  with  the 
revenue  laws  and  similar  to  that  in  the  late  convention  with 
Great  Britain,  was  carried  into  effect  by  the  8th  Section  of  the 
Act  for  laying  and  collecting  duties  on  imports  and  tonnage  in 
Louisiana,  passed  24th  February,  1804  (7th  vol.,  page  33). 


(586  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIJST.  1816. 

It  was  agreed  by  the  10th  Article  of  the  treaty  with  Spain  of 
1795  that  if  any  vessel  of  either  party  should  be  wrecked  or 
damaged  on  the  coasts  of  the  other  party,  no  duties  should  be 
paid  on  such  part  of  the  cargo  as  should  be  reladen  and  carried 
away.  This  provision  was  inconsistent  with  the  revenue  laws, 
which  imposed  duties  on  such  goods  unless  reladen  in  the  same 
vessel  in  which  they  had  been  brought  in  and  in  the  manner 
provided  by  the  38th  Section  of  the  Act  of  4th  August,  1790  (re- 
enacted  verbatim  in  the  Act  of  2d  March,  1799,  of  which  it  is 
the  60th  Section).  This  inconsistency  was  not  perceived  at  the 
time,  and  no  legislative  provision  was  supposed  necessary.  But 
a  case  of  that  kind  having  occurred  at  Norfolk  in  the  year  1804, 
the  Act  for  carrying  into  more  complete  eifect  the  10th  Article 
of  the  treaty  with  Spain  was  passed  on  the  14th  February,  1805 
(7th  vol.,  page  259),  and  made  special  provision  for  the  case 
which  had  occurred,  as  well  as  general  provision  for  carrying 
the  article  of  the  treaty  into  eifect. 

The  first  of  the  Acts  which  I  have  quoted,  that  of  2d  March, 
1799,  was  the  spontaneous  act  of  a  Federal  Administration,  was 
introduced  and  passed  by  the  highest-toned  Federal  Congress 
that  has  existed  under  the  present  form  of  government.  The 
two  others  were  passed  under  a  Republican  Administration  and 
by  a  Republican  Congress,  but  without  any  opposition  what 
ever,  so  far  as  related  to  any  constitutional  question,  on  the  part 
either  of  the  Federal  members  or  of  the  Senate,  although  the 
title  of  the  last  Act  was  sufficient  to  alarm,  if  any  constitutional 
objection  had  existed.  But  the  fact  is  that  none  did  exist,  and 
that  now  is  the  first  time  that  an  attempt  is  made  to  prevent  the 
passage  of  a  law  intended  to  carry  into  effect,  or,  if  you  please, 
to  execute,  a  treaty,  on  the  ground  that  the  treaty  itself  becomes 
a  law,  any[thing]  in  the  statute  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding. 
The  uniform  practice  and  the  doctrines  heretofore  held  are  equally 
in  contradiction  with  that  novel  and  unprecedented  attempt.  In 
the  long  debates  on  the  constitutional  question  which  arose  in 
1796  respecting  the  treaty-making  power,  it  was  contended  by 
the  Federal  minority  of  the  House  of  Representatives,  1st,  that 
the  treaty  once  ratified  was  binding  on  the  nation,  and  that 
Congress  was  as  much  bound  to  pass  the  laws  necessary  to  carry 


1816.  LETTERS,    ETC.  (587 

such  treaty  into  effect  as  the  President  and  courts  were  to  exe 
cute  its  provisions;  2dly,  that  if  there  was  any  discretion  in 
Congress  it  was  limited  to  the  special  Act  required  of  them, 
to  the  propriety  of  making  an  appropriation  or  of  regulating 
duties ;  and  that  they  had  no  right  to  take  into  consideration,  as 
a  motive  of  dissent,  other  parts  of  the  treaty  which  avowedly 
required  no  legislative  sanction.  That  that  minority  did  not 
contend  for  the  principle  now  advanced  is  evident  from  their 
subsequent  conduct  in  passing  or  assenting  to  the  Acts  above 
quoted. 

I  perceive  no  other  effect  likely  to  result  from  the  rejection  of 
any  bill  to  carry  the  convention  into  effect  but  to  defeat  the  con 
vention  itself,  and  to  prevent  treaties  of  a  similar  nature  being 
hereafter  made  with  foreign  nations.  The  practice  having  uni 
formly  been  as  I  have  stated,  how  can  the  President  assume  the 
responsibility  and  the  right  to  execute  the  convention?  How 
can  he  construe  the  rejection  of  the  bill  otherwise  than  as  an 
evidence  that  Congress  intends  to  prevent  the  execution  of 
that  compact?  Permit  me  at  the  same  time  to  add  that  I  do 
not  see  any  substantial  objection  to  the  expression  declared 
adopted  by  the  Senate  in  their  bill.  You  will  find  a  precedent 
for  it  in  the  104th  Section  of  the  Act  of  2d  March,  1799;  and 
provided  a  law  be  allowed  to  be  necessary,  the  formula  does  not 
seem  essentially  material. 

It  is  very  possible  that  what  I  have  written  had  been  already 
fully  stated,  but  the  uniformity  of  the  practice,  if  stated  in  de 
bate,  not  having  been  noticed  by  the  reporter,  I  thought  it 
might  have  happened  that  provisions  contained  in  revenue  laws 
familiar  to  me  were  not  sought  for  in  those  Acts,  and  might 
have  escaped  the  research  of  gentlemen  who  had  rarely  occasion 
to  recur  to  those  laws.  You  will  be  pleased  to  accept  this  apol 
ogy  for  this  long  letter ;  and  I  request  you  to  believe  me,  with 
sincere  respect,  your  obedient  servant. 


£88  WETTINGS     OF     GALL  ATI  N.  1816. 


GALLATIN  TO   MONROE. 

Private. 

NEW  YORK,  2d  February,  1816. 

DEAR  Sin, — I  have  received  your  letter  of  27th  ult.,  and  have 
at  last  concluded  to  avail  myself  of  the  permission  given  me  to 
accept  again  the  mission  to  France.  I  am  duly  sensible  of 
yours  and  the  President's  kindness  in  having  kept  the  question 
so  long  opened,  and  hope  you  will  find  an  apology  for  my  hesi 
tation  in  the  importance,  at  my  age,  of  a  decision  which  must  so 
materially  aifect  the  prospects  for  life  of  my  wife  and  children. 
I  believe  with  you  that  the  chance  of  Congress  making  any 
additional  allowance  to  foreign  ministers  is  not  the  better  on 
account  either  of  the  present  incumbents  or  of  the  state  of  sus 
pense  in  which  some  of  the  important  missions  are  now  kept. 
On  what  may  hereafter  be  done  no  reliance  can  be  placed.  I 
calculate  only  on  what  now  exists,  and  mean,  as  I  before  stated, 
to  regulate  my  expenses  accordingly.  If  I  find  it  impracticable 
to  live  without  encroaching  on  ray  small  property,  I  will  beg 
permission  to  return.  I  believe  an  additional  compensation  to 
be  much  more  important  to  the  United  States  than  to  the 
individual. 

I  have  still  some  private  arrangements  to  complete,  which 
will  not,  however,  detain  me  long,  and  I  will  be  ready  to  repair 
to  Washington,  for  the  purpose  of  reading  the  former  correspond 
ence  and  receiving  your  instructions,  at  any  time  you  may  be 
pleased  to  appoint.  It  will  best  suit  my  convenience  to  have  a 
short  time  allowed  me  on  my  return  from  Washington.  I  will, 
in  the  mean  while,  wait  for  your  answer. 

I  beg  you  to  present  Mrs.  G.'s  and  my  best  respects  to  Mrs. 
M.  and  to  Mrs.  Hay,  and  to  believe  me,  with  sincere  respect  and 
esteem,  truly  yours. 

You  will  have  the  goodness  to  return  or  destroy  the  letter  in 
which  I  had  declined  the  appointment,  as  it  should  not  remain 
on  the  files  of  the  office. 


1816.  LETTEKS,    ETC. 


MONROE  TO  GALLATIN. 

Private. 

WASHINGTON,  February  13,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR,— We  were  much  gratified  to  find  by  your  last 
letter  that  you  accepted  the  mission  to  France.  I  have  not 
wished  to  take  you  from  your  affairs,  which  I  am  convinced 
must  require  your  unremitted  attention  before  your  departure ; 
but  I  now  think  that  the  sooner  you  come  here  the  better  it  will 
be.  It  is  known  that  you  have  accepted  the  mission,  and  an 
early  visit  here  will  produce  a  good  effect.  The  prospect  of 
obtaining  an  augmentation,  in  the  modes  heretofore  suggested, 
of  the  salary,  is  improved  by  the  acceptance,  and  being  here, 
the  opportunity  you  will  have  of  conferring  with  Mr.  Clay  and 
Mr.  Crawford  on  the  subject,  and  interesting  them  in  it,  will 
give  to  our  exertions  much  aid.  This  you  may  afford,  in  the 
present  state,  with  perfect  delicacy.  Everything  will  be  done 
to  accommodate  your  views,  in  the  time  of  your  departure,  that 
circumstances  will  permit.  Your  former  letter  was  not  filed  in 
the  Department;  I  will  return  it  to  you  when  we  meet.  Our 
best  regards  to  Mrs.  Gallatin. 

With  great  respect  and  esteem,  sincerely  yours. 


GALLATIN  TO   T.  R.  GOLD. 

WASHINGTON,  March  19,  1816. 

SIR,— I  am  this  moment  honored  with  your  note  of  this  day. 
The  information  you  have  received  that  I  was  concerned  with 
Mr.  Astor  in  the  importing  business  is  altogether  erroneous.  I 
never  have  been,  nor  am  at  present,  either  directly  or  indirectly, 
connected  with  that  gentleman  in  any  business  whatever.  I  am 
not  engaged  and  do  not  intend  to  engage  in  any  commercial 
pursuits.  However  unimportant  or  erroneous  my  opinions  may 
be  on  the  subject,  they  are  at  least  wholly  disinterested ;  yet  the 
length  of  time  I  spent  in  the  Treasury  may  have  produced  some 
VOL.  i.— 45 


690  WHITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1816. 

bias  on  my  mind,  and  the  danger  of  infractions  of  the  revenue 
laws  probably  strikes  me  more  forcibly  than  it  does  other  persons. 

From  various  considerations  I  have  been  induced  to  wish  that 
there  should  be  a  total  prohibition  of  the  importation  of  East 
India  cotton  goods,  so  far  at  least  as  relates  to  those  of  coarse 
fabric.  That  opinion  I  expressed  to  Mr.  Thomas  Morris  in 
New  York,  and  is,  I  presume,  that  to  which  you  allude.  It  has 
been  communicated  to  others,  and  is  not  changed. 

With  respect  to  the  proposed  tariff,  I  do  not  perceive,  as  it 
relates  to  the  consumer,  that  it  can  be  very  material  to  him 
whether  his  share  of  the  public  burdens  is  raised  on  the  cloth 
he  wears  or  on  the  sugar  and  coffee  he  consumes.  There  appears, 
therefore,  in  that  respect,  no  objection  to  a  modification  of  the 
duties  which  shall  afford  encouragement  to  domestic  manufac 
tures.  The  limit  to  high  duties  is  the  danger  of  smuggling  on 
that  large  scale  which  will  defeat  the  object  in  view.  What  that 
limit  is  must  be  matter  of  opinion.  No  man  can  assert  posi 
tively  the  precise  point  to  which  you  may  go  with  safety  and 
beyond  which  it  would  be  dangerous  to  raise  the  duty.  I  may, 
however,  state  as  a  fact  that  prior  to  the  adoption  of  our  re 
strictive  measures  a  duty  of  17 J  per  cent,  was  raised  on  a  con 
siderable  portion  of  the  goods  paying  duties  ad  valorem,  without 
any  sensible  or  dangerous  evasions  of  the  duties  having  taken 
place.  I  do  at  the  same  time  most  sincerely  believe  that  the 
highest  rates  of  duties  proposed  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
as  applicable  to  the  finer  species  of  goods,  would  fill  the  country 
with  smuggled  merchandise,  and  would  prove  equally  injurious 
to  the  fair  trader  and  to  the  manufacturer  himself.  The  revenue 
may  be  protected  against  considerable  illicit  importations  by  sea; 
but  the  great  danger  arises  from  the  vicinity  of  New  Brunswick 
and  from  our  very  extensive  northern  land  frontier.  To  what 
extent  smuggling  is  carried  on  under  similar  circumstances  in 
Europe  is  well  known,  and  the  habits  and  skill  acquired  here 
during  the  restrictive  system  cannot  be  overlooked.  I  must 
repeat  that  what  may  be  thought  the  highest  safe  rate  of  duty 
is  only  a  matter  of  opinion  until  it  has  been  tested  by  experience. 
I  give  mine  with  diffidence,  but  think  that  with  coarse  cotton  and 
woollen  goods,  which  may,  I  presume,  be  discriminated,  and  with 


1816.  LETTERS,     ETC.  69j 

the  exception  of  other  bulky  articles,  such  as  hardware,  &c.,  it 
would  be  dangerous  at  present  to  go  beyond  20,  or  at  most  25 
per  cent.  If  I  was  either  a  manufacturer  or  a  legislator,  I  had 
rather  begin  with  20  per  cent.,  with  a  view  to  a  gradual  sub 
sequent  increase  if  justified  by  the  experiment.  An  absolute 
prohibition  of  East  India  cotton  goods  can  be  carried  into  effect 
with  much  more  facility  than  very  high  duties,  because  in  the 
first  case  the  goods  which  are  easily  distinguished  may  be  seized 
anywhere  and  at  any  time,  whilst  in  the  other  they  are  almost 
entirely  beyond  the  reach  of  seizure  the  moment  they  have  passed 
our  boundary-line.  The  experience  of  England  with  respect  to 
French  silks  and  even  to  laces  is  decisive  on  that  point.  I  may 
add  that  the  measure  would  also  have  the  double  effect  of  assist 
ing  in  resuming  specie  payments,  and  demonstrate  to  the  British 
government  that  we  do  not  consider  the  permission  to  trade  with 
their  East  India  possessions  as  conferring  any  valuable  privilege 
on  us. 


GALLATIN   TO   JEFFERSO^T. 

WASHINGTON,  1st  April,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  much  regretted  that  a  detention  in  my 
journey  to  this  place  prevented  my  arriving  at  Baltimore  till 
after  your  nephew's  departure.  I  had  brought  with  me  letters 
from  Geneva,  which  I  have  sent  after  him.  Mr.  Erving  takes 
duplicates,  and  I  will  send  triplicates  on  my  arrival  at  Paris,  so 
that  I  hope  that  he  will  experience  no  disappointment  on  that 
account.  I  found  the  institutions  and  professors  as  good  at 
Geneva  as  when  I  had  left  it  thirty-five  years  before. 

After  what  I  had  written  to  you,  you  could  hardly  have  ex 
pected  that  I  would  have  accepted  the  French  mission.  It  was 
again  offered  to  me  in  so  friendly  a  manner  and  from  so  friendly 
motives  that  I  was  induced  to  accept.  Nor  will  I  conceal  that 
I  did  not  feel  yet  old  enough,  nor  had  I  philosophy  enough, 
to  go  into  retirement  and  abstract  myself  altogether  from  public 
affairs.  I  have  no  expectation,  however,  that  in  the  present 
state  of  France  I  can  be  of  any  utility  there,  and  hope  that  I 


692  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1816. 

will  not  make  a  long  stay  in  that  country.  The  late  events 
must  have  dispersed  a  great  number  of  your  acquaintances 
there.  If  you  have  yet  any  correspondence  to  which  you  wish 
any  letters  to  be  safely  transmitted,  such  as  you  will  send  by  me 
will  be  safely  delivered  in  their  own  hands.  I  presume  that  I 
will  sail  the  latter  end  of  this  month  from  New  York,  for  which 
place  I  will  set  off  to-morrow.  In  every  country  and  at  all 
times  I  never  can  cease  to  feel  gratitude,  respect,  and  attachment 
for  you.  With  every  wish  for  your  happiness,  I  remain  sincerely 
and  respectfully. 


JEFFERSON   TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  April  11,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  last  favor  is  received  just  as  I  am  setting 
out  for  a  possession  ninety  miles  southwardly,  from  whence  I 
shall  not  return  until  the  first  week  of  the  ensuing  month.  I 
hasten,  therefore,  to  drop  you  a  line  of  adieu.  I  sincerely  rejoice 
that  you  are  going  to  France.  I  do  not  think  with  you  that 
nothing  can  be  done  there.  Louis  XVIII.  is  a  fool  and  a  bigot, 
but,  bating  a  little  duplicity,  he  is  honest  and  means  well.  He 
cannot  but  feel  the  heavy  hand  of  his  masters,  and  that  it  is  Eng 
land  which  presses  it,  and  vaunts  the  having  had  the  glory  of 
effecting  their  humiliation.  His  Ministers  too,  although  ultra- 
royalists,  must  feel  as  Frenchmen.  Although  our  government  is 
an  eyesore  to  them,  the  pride  and  pressure  of  England  is  more 
present  to  their  feelings,  and  they  must  be  sensible  that,  having 
a  common  enemy,  an  intimate  connection  with  us  must  be  of 
value  to  them.  England  hates  us,  dreads  us,  and  yet  is  silly 
enough  to  keep  us  under  constant  irritation  instead  of  making 
us  her  friends.  She  will  use  all  her  sway  over  the  French  gov 
ernment  to  obstruct  our  commerce  with  them,  and  it  is  exactly 
there  you  can  act  with  effect  by  keeping  that  government  in 
formed  of  the  truth  in  opposition  to  the  lies  of  England.  I 
thank  you  for  your  attention  to  my  request  as  to  Mr.  Terril. 
You  judge  rightly  that  I  have  no  acquaintances  left  in  France: 
some  were  guillotined,  some  fled,  some  died,  some  are  exiled, 


1816.  LETTERS,    ETC.  (593 

and  I  know  of  nobody  left  but  La  Fayette.  I  correspond  with 
his  connection,  M.  Destutt  Tracy,  the  ablest  writer  in  France  in 
the  moral  line.  Your  acquaintance  with  M.  de  la  Fayette  will 
of  course  bring  you  to  that  of  M.  Tracy.  Will  you  permit 
me  to  tell  you  a  long  story,  and  to  vindicate  me  in  conversation 
to  both  those  friends,  before  whom  it  is  impossible  but  that  I 
must  stand  in  need  of  it?  M.  Tracy  has  written  the  best  work 
on  political  economy  which  has  ever  appeared.  He  has  estab 
lished  its  principles  more  demonstratively  than  has  been  done 
before,  and  in  the  compass  of  one-third  of  even  M.  Say's  work. 
He  feared  to  print  it  in  France,  and  sent  it  to  me  to  have  it  trans 
lated  and  printed  here.  I  immediately  proposed  it  to  Duane,  who 
engaged  to  have  it  done.  After  putting  me  off  from  six  months 
to  six  months,  he  at  length  (after  two  or  three  years'  delay)  wrote 
me  that  he  had  had  it  translated,  but  was  not  able  to  print 
it.  I  got  from  him  the  original  and  the  translation,  and  pro 
posed  the  publishing  of  it  to  Milligan,  of  Georgetown,  promising 
to  review  the  translation  if  he  Avould  undertake  it.  He  agreed 
to  it.  When  I  came  to  look  into  the  translation,  it  had  been  done 
by  one  who  understood  neither  French  nor  English,  and  I  then 
rejoiced  that  Duane  had  not  published  it.  It  would  have  been 
horrid.  I  worked  on  it  four  or  five  hours  a  day  for  three  months, 
comparing  word  by  word  with  the  original,  and,  although  I  have 
made  it  a  strictly  faithful  translation,  yet  it  is  without  style.  Le 
premier  jet  was  such  as  to  render  that  impossible.  I  sent  the 
whole  to  Milligan  about  ten  days  ago,  and  he  had  informed  me 
his  types  and  everything  was  ready  to  begin  it.  I  have  not  the 
courage  to  write  to  M.  Tracy  until  I  can  send  him  a  copy  of  the 
book ;  and  were  I  to  write  to  M.  La  Fayette  and  be  silent  on  this 
subject,  they  would  conclude  I  had  abandoned  it;  but,  in  truth, 
I  have  never  ceased  to  urge  it.  Indeed,  I  take  great  interest  in 
its  publication.  Its  brevity  will  recommend  it  to  our  country 
men,  and  its  logic  set  their  minds  to  rights  as  to  principle;  and 
you  know  there  is  no  science  on  which  they  are  so  little  informed. 
Now  can  you  remember  all  this?  and  will  you  be  so  good  as  to 
place  me  erect  again  before  my  friends  by  a  verbal  explanation  ? 
God  bless  you,  and  give  you  a  safe  and  pleasant  voyage,  and  a 
safe  return  to  us  in  the  fulness  of  time ! 


(594  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1816. 

I  trouble  you  with  two  letters  to  Mr.  Terril  to  be  forwarded 
to  Geneva. 


MADISON   TO   GALLATIN. 

WASHINGTON,  April  12,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — Mr.  Dallas  has  signified  to  me  that,  it  being 
his  intention  not  to  pass  another  winter  in  Washington,  he  has 
thought  it  his  duty  to  give  me  an  opportunity  of  selecting  a 
successor  during  the  present  session  of  Congress ;  intimating  a 
willingness,  however,  to  remain,  if  desired,  in  order  to  put  the 
national  bank  in  motion. 

Will  it  be  most  agreeable  to  you  to  proceed  on  your  mission  to 
France?  or  are  you  willing  again  to  take  charge  of  a  Depart 
ment  heretofore  conducted  by  you  with  so  much  reputation  and 
usefulness,  on  the  resignation  of  Mr.  Dallas,  which  will,  it  is 
presumed,  take  effect  about  the  1st  of  October  ?  In  the  latter 
case,  it  will  be  proper  that  a  nomination  be  forthwith  made  for 
the  foreign  appointment.  Favor  me  with  your  determination 
as  soon  as  you  can  make  it  convenient,  accepting,  in  the  mean 
time,  my  affectionate  respects. 


GALLATIN   TO   MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  April  18,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — Your  letter  of  the  12th  reached  me  only  the 
day  before  yesterday,  and,  not  willing  to  make  a  hasty  decision, 
I  have  delayed  an  answer  till  to-day.  I  feel  very  grateful  for 
your  kind  offer,  which  I  know  to  have  been  equally  owing 
to  your  friendship  for  me  and  to  your  views  of  public  utility. 
I  decline  it  with  some  reluctance,  because  I  think  I  would  be 
more  useful  at  home  than  abroad,  and  I  had  much  rather  be 
in  America  than  in  Europe.  The  reasons  which  induce  me, 
nevertheless,  to  decline,  under  existing  circumstances,  prepon- 


1816.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  695 

derate.  With  these  I  do  not  mean  to  trouble  you,  and  will  only 
mention  that,  although  competent,  as  I  think,  to  the  higher 
duties  of  office,  there  is,  for  what  I  conceive  a  proper  manage 
ment  of  the  Treasury,  a  necessity  for  a  mass  of  mechanical  labor 
connected  with  details,  forms,  calculations,  &c.,  which,  having 
now  lost  sight  of  the  thread  and  routine,  I  cannot  think  of  again 
learning  and  going  through.  I  know  that  in  that  respect  there 
is  now  much  confusion,  due  to  the  changes  of  office  and  the 
state  of  the  currency ;  and  I  believe  that  an  active  young  man 
can  alone  reinstate  and  direct  properly  that  Department.  I  may 
add  that  I  have  made  a  number  of  arrangements  founded  on  the 
expectation  of  the  French  mission,  of  a  short  residence  there, 
and  of  a  last  visit  to  my  Geneva  relations,  which  could  not  be 
undone  without  causing  inconvenience  to  me  and  disappoint 
ment  to  others.  Accept  my  grateful  thanks,  and  the  assurance 
of  my  constant  and  sincere  attachment  and  respect. 

Your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN  TO   MONROE. 


YORK,  April  18,  1816. 
DEAR  Sm,—  I  have  not  had  the  pleasure  to  hear  from  you 
since  I  left  Washington.  The  instructions  will  always  reach  me 
in  time,  but  there  are  some  points  on  which,  as  they  aifect  my  im 
mediate  arrangements,  I  wish  information  as  soon  as  convenient. 
The  most  important  relates  to  the  time  and  manner  of  departure. 
As  to  the  first,  I  am  and  have  been  prepared  since  the  time  I 
left  Washington.  With  respect  to  the  last,  I  should  know 
whether  I  am  to  go  in  a  public  vessel,  since  I  cannot  make  my 
arrangements  for  a  passage  in  a  private  one  till  that  is  ascer 
tained.  The  bill  for  the  increase  of  salaries  having  been  re 
jected,  it  is  also  of  some  importance  that  I  should  know  from 
what  time  the  salary  Avill  commence.  Whether  I  go  in  a  pub 
lic  or  private  vessel,  it  will  cost  me  about  2000  dollars  before  I 
can  land  my  family  at  Paris.  I  know  that  you  will  make  every 
allowance  within  your  power,  and  only  wish  to  know  what  it 


696  WHITINGS    OF    GAL  LATIN.  1816. 

will  be.  Those  are  the  only  points  necessary  for  me  to  know 
before  my  departure.  On  account  of  the  aforesaid  rejection  I 
beg  leave  also  to  repeat  my  application  of  clerk-hire,  and  to  ask 
whether  I  am  bound  by  standing  instructions  to  give  table  and 
board  to  the  secretary  of  legation.  This  it  is  my  intention  to 
do  with  Mr.  Sheldon ;  but  I  wish  to  know  whether  it  is  a  mat 
ter  of  duty.  These  two  last  inquiries  to  be  answered  at  your 
leisure.  I  have  had  a  severe  cold  since  I  saw  you,  and  we  have 
still  here  January  weather.  How  are  you  ?  I  do  not  like  your 
damp  room  at  the  State  office.  Mrs.  Gallatin  requests  to  be 
affectionately  remembered  to  Mrs.  Monroe  and  to  Mrs.  Hay. 
Accept  the  assurance  of  my  affectionate  respect. 

Your  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO    MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  19th  April,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — Last  Washington  mail  brought  me  the  enclosed 
letter  (returned)  from  General  John  Smith,  of  New  York.  Mr. 
Astor  has  never  spoken  to  me  on  the  subject.  It  would  please 
me  that  he  should  be  gratified  in  that  respect.  It  will  promote 
the  filling  of  subscriptions,  and  he  has  a  fair  claim  to  that  hon 
orific  distinction.  In  April,  1813,  when  the  Federalists  of  New 
York  refused  to  subscribe  to  the  16  millions  loan,  he  came  out 
with  a  subscription  of  more  than  two  millions  of  dollars,  bottomed 
exclusively  on  his  own  resources  and  credit,  and  enabled  me,  by 
that  competition,  to  obtain  better  terms  from  Parish  and  Girard. 
I  know  that  amount  was  much  more  than  was  convenient  and 
did  much  embarrass  him. 

Respectfully,  your  obedient  servant. 

[Enclosure.] 

JOHN   SMITH   TO    GALLATIN. 

NEW  YORK,  5th  April,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — It  appears  probable  that  the  Act  for  incorpo 
rating  a  national  bank  will  become  a  law.  I  therefore  take  the 
liberty  of  mentioning  to  you  that  our  friend  Mr.  Astor  would 


1816.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  697 

be  gratified  if  the  President  should  think  proper  to  appoint  him 
one  of  the  commissioners  for  receiving  subscriptions  to  the  bank. 
Mr.  Astor  contemplates  becoming  a  large  stockholder,  and  if 
you  think  that  you  can  with  propriety  mention  his  name  to  the 
President  for  the  appointment,  he  will  consider  it  a  particular 
favor  done  him. 

I  am,  with  much  respect,  yours,  <fec. 


GALLATIN  TO   NATHANIEL  MACOX. 

NEW  YORK,  23d  April,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — Yours  of  18th  instant  is  received.  The  sale  of 
United  States  stock  will  undoubtedly  assist  not  only  the  banks 
but  also  their  debtors.  The  banks  may  sell  theirs  instead  of 
curtailing  discounts,  or  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  specie. 
Those  of  their  debtors  who  own  such  stock,  and  they  are  numer 
ous,  principally  in  Baltimore,  may  pay  their  discounted  notes  by 
a  similar  sale.  But  I  think  an  additional  issue  of  Treasury 
notes  one  of  the  wrorst  measures  that  could  be  adopted.  We 
have  a  redundancy  of  currency,  and  to  raise  its  value  its  amount 
must  necessarily  be  diminished.  What  is  called  scarcity  of  money 
is  not  the  scarcity  of  circulating  medium,  but  a  greater  desire  of 
borrowing  than  there  are  means  to  satisfy  it.  So  long  as  banks 
do  not  pay  in  specie,  they  may,  indeed,  by  new  issue  of  paper, 
increase  their  loans.  But  this  is  eifected  by  depreciating  the 
currency ;  in  other  words,  by  raising  a  tax  on  the  community 
for  the  benefit  of  the  banks  and  borrowers,  and,  what  is  worse, 
by  impairing  the  sanctity  of  contracts.  This  is  the  evil  to  be 
cured ;  and  if  you  add  to  the  circulation  as  many  Treasury  notes 
(receivable  in  duties  but  not  payable  in  specie)  as  you  subtract 
bank-notes  from  it,  you  undo  with  one  hand  what  you  were 
repairing  with  the  other.  In  my  opinion,  the  surplus  of  Treasury 
notes  beyond  the  amount  which  could  have  been  circulated  at 
their  specie  par  value  ought  to  have  been  funded  as  soon  as 
peace  was  made.  At  all  events,  this  should  have  been  done  with 
respect  to  all  those  which  became  due.  This  was  done  but  in 


698  WRITINGS     OF    GALLATIN.  1816. 

part,  and  the  effect  of  the  revenue  was  relied  on  to  absorb  the 
residue.  The  consequence  has  been  that  nothing  could  be  re 
ceived  in  payment  of  that  revenue  but  Treasury  notes,  depre 
ciated  15  per  cent,  below  specie,  or  bank  paper,  still  worse.  All 
the  public  creditors  have  since  the  peace,  when  necessity  could 
no  longer  be  pled,  in  direct  violation  of  the  pledged  faith  of 
the  United  States,  been  paid  in  similar  depreciated  currency, 
instead  of  the  gold  and  silver  promised  to  them.  The  army 
and  navy,  the  public  officers  of  government,  have  been  paid  in 
^  the  same  manner.  The  Treasury  has  gained  what  it  would  have 
lost  in  funding  the  Treasury  notes  at  their  market  specie  price ; 
but  it  was  an  illicit  profit.  The  consequence  has  been  that  the 
public  stocks  have  never  been  since  the  peace  higher  than  85 
per  cent.,  a  lower  price  than  they  were  during  the  war  prior  to 
the  suspension  of  payments  in  specie  by  the  banks.  At  last  the 
revenue  begins  to  operate.  A  greater  demand  exists  for  Treasury 
notes ;  they  are  for  the  first  time,  without  any  artificial  means, 
on  a  par  with  New  York  paper ;  that  is  to  say,  about  8  per  cent, 
below  specie.  If  you  issue  an  additional  quantity  at  this  time, 
a  retrograde  motion  will  take  place,  and  instead  of  gradually 
rising  to  specie  par  they  will  again  depreciate.  The  Treasury 
will  again  be  without  money  here,  the  public  creditors  paid  with 
paper  worse  than  at  present,  and  the  prospect  of  that  sound  state 
of  currency  and  fidelity  in  fulfilling  public  and  private  engage 
ments  which  rest  alone  on  the  resumption  of  specie  payments 
by  the  Treasury  and  by  the  banks,  will  still  be  farther  removed. 
Public  confidence  will  again  be  further  impaired,  and  the  diffi 
culty  of  filling  the  national  bank  and  carrying  it  into  operation 
will  be  increased. 

I  write  hastily  and  perhaps  with  not  sufficient  perspicuity  on 
this  complex  subject.  There  is  none  on  which  I  ever  had  more 
perfect  conviction  of  the  soundness  of  my  opinion ;  for  it  rests 
not  only  on  supposed  advantages,  but  on  a  strong  sense  of  justice. 
I  also  think  that  instead  of  striking  out  in  the  bill  the  coercive 
clause  on  the  banks,  it  would  have  been  far  better  to  retain  it, 
removing  to  a  greater  distance  (say  1st  July  or  31st  December, 
1817)  the  day  on  which  it  was  to  operate. 

Ever  yours. 


1816.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  599 

I  believe  that  the  banks  here,  if  you  do  nothing  more  than  to 
require  specie  payment  into  the  Treasury  after  1st  January  next, 
will  resume  their  specie  payments ;  but  I  fear  those  of  Baltimore 
will  not  do  it  unless  coerced. 


CRAWFORD    TO    GALLATIN. 

Confidential. 

WASHINGTON,  6th  May,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — Mr.  Dallas  has  informed  the  President  of  his 
determination  to  resign  his  office  in  the  month  of  September,  or 
sooner  if  a  successor  can  be  found.  The  President  has  offered, 
and  indeed  pressed  it  upon  me.  From  observations  then  made, 
he  considered  your  determination  to  go  to  France  as  conclusively 
made  up.  My  own  impressions  are  that  your  situation  in  France 
will  not  be  pleasant.  The  refusal  to  increase  the  salary  ought  to 
be  considered  as  final,  at  least  with  the  present  Congress;  and 
there  is  but  little  reason  to  expect  that  the  next  will  be  more 
liberal.  Your  residence  there  will  then  probably  be  of  short 
duration.  It  is  certainly  true,  however,  that  the  salary  of  $9000 
in  Paris  is  better  than  the  same  sum  in  this  place,  if  living  is 
always  to  be  as  high  as  at  this  time.  Under  these  circumstances 
I  have  felt  it  to  be  my  duty  to  state  the  intended  resignation, 
and  to  assure  you  that  I  am  confident  Mr.  Madison  would  see 
you  in  that  office  with  great  pleasure. 

I  do  not  know  your  feelings  towards  his  successor,  nor  do  I 
know  his  feelings  towards  me ;  nor  is  it  a  matter  of  any  conse 
quence,  as  far  as  I  am  concerned,  what  they  may  be ;  but  it  may 
be  an  object  of  great  importance  with  you  in  the  decision  of  this 
question. 

My  answer  has  been  decidedly  in  the  negative.  I  do  not  feel 
at  liberty  to  disclose  the  ulterior  views  of  the  President  as  far  as 
he  has  formed  them.  At  present  everything  depends  upon  con 
tingencies.  I  fear,  however,  that  if  he  should  fill  the  office  at 
all  it  will  not  be  well  filled,  unless  you  should  think  fit  to  re 
sume  your  former  station. 


700  WETTINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1816. 

From  this  declaration  you  will  discredit  the  reports  of  Mr. 
Lowndes's  succeeding  Mr.  Dallas.  I  suggested  this  arrange 
ment,  but,  although  it  was  not  rejected,  I  discovered  that  a  dif 
ferent  selection  would  be  made  unless  I  consented  to  take  charge 
of  the  Department.  My  reasons  for  declining  this  offer  are  too 
strong  to  be  removed.  It  is  therefore  useless  to  disclose  them. 

I  have  the  honor  to  be  your  most  obedient  and  very  humble 
servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   MATTHEW  LYON. 

NEW  YORK,  May  7,  1816. 

SIR, — I  was  much  gratified  by  the  receipt  of  your  friendly 
letter  of  29th  October  last,  which  ought  to  have  been  sooner 
acknowledged,  but  which  I  will  not,  before  my  departure  for 
Europe,  leave  unanswered.  I  am  sorry  for  your  lossas,  but  hope 
that  the  property  you  have  left  will  be  sufficient  to  make  you  as 
comfortable  as  your  active  industry  and  knowledge  of  business 
certainly  deserve. 

The  war  has  been  productive  of  evil  and  good,  but  I  think 
the  good  preponderates.  Independent  of  the  loss  of  lives,  and 
of  the  losses  in  property  by  individuals,  the  war  has  laid  the 
foundation  of  permanent  taxes  and  military  establishments,  which 
the  Republicans  had  deemed  unfavorable  to  the  happiness  and 
free  institutions  of  the  country.  But  under  our  former  system 
we  were  becoming  too  selfish,  too  much  attached  exclusively  to 
the  acquisition  of  wealth,  above  all,  too  much  confined  in  our 
political  feelings  to  local  and  State  objects.  The  war  has  renewed 
and  reinstated  the  national  feelings  and  character  which  the  Rev 
olution  had  given,  and  which  were  daily  lessened.  The  people 
have  now  more  general  objects  of  attachment  with  which  their 
pride  and  political  opinions  are  connected.  They  are  more 
Americans ;  they  feel  and  act  more  as  a  nation ;  and  I  hope  that 
the  permanency  of  the  Union  is  thereby  better  secured. 

It  is  with  reluctance  that  I  have  accepted  the  French  mission ; 
and  I  hope  that  my  absence  will  be  short,  and  that  I  will  soon  be 
able  to  return  with  my  family  in  the  bosom  of  my  friends  and 


1816.  LETTERS,    ETC.  701 

country.  My  private  business,  to  which  I  had  during  the  last 
fifteen  years  hardly  attended,  has  suffered  and  will  continue  to 
suffer.  Amongst  other  objects,  I  fear  I  may  have  lost  the  tract 
of  66 6 1  acres  on  Cumberland  River,  having  never  taken  any 
measures  to  remove  the  man  who  had  taken  possession.  I  do 
not  know  his  name ;  and  I  will  thank  you  to  communicate  it  to 
Mr.  Robert  Alexander,  President  of  the  Bank  of  Kentucky,  at 
Frankfort,  together  with  any  information  you  have  respecting 
that  man's  claim  and  disposition  and  the  quality  and  value  of 
the  land.  I  have  given  to  Mr.  Alexander  a  power  of  attorney 
for  my  Kentucky  lands,  and  told  him  that  you  would  give  him 
that  information. 

Mrs.  Gallatin  sends  you  her  compliments.  I  never  received 
your  letter  respecting  a  glass-house  and  the  procuring  of  glass- 
blowers.  I  would  attend  to  it  if  I  knew  what  capital  you  and 
your  friends  can  employ  in  the  establishment.  On  that  point 
success  depends.  There  must  be  no  embarrassment,  or  business 
would  be  ruinous.  I  commenced  mine  with  about  ten  thousand 
dollars,  and  made  no  profit  during  the  first  years,  nor  until  the 
capital  amounted  to  near  twenty  thousand.  That  now  employed 
in  our  glass-works,  including  outstanding  debts,  exceeds  forty 
thousand,  and  gives  us  an  annual  profit  of  about  eight  thousand, 
of  which  only  one-seventh  part  belongs  to  me.  I  must  observe 
that  there  is  an  inconvenience  in  your  situation.  You  are  be  low 
the  greater  part  of  the  fast-improving  country  north  of  the  Ohio, 
in  which  the  great  consumption  of  glass  takes  place.  The  works 
situated  high  up  the  Ohio,  at  Pittsburg  and  above,  have  in  that 
respect  a  great  advantage.  At  New  Orleans  market  you  must 
meet  the  competition  of  the  cheap  German  glass. 

I  have  lost  three  old  friends,— Mr.  Savary,  Thos.  Clare,  and 
Mr.  Smilie.  You  have  heard  that  Dr.  Jones,  of  Virginia, 
Richard  Brent,  and  Stanford,  of  North  Carolina,  are  also  dead. 

With  sincere,  &c. 


702  WRITINGS    OF     GALLATIN.  1816. 


CRAWFORD   TO   GALLATIN. 

WASHINGTON,  10th  May,  1816. 

MY  DEAR  Sin, — I  have  the  honor  to  enclose  a  letter  of  in 
troduction  to  the  Duchess  of  Plaisance,  and  another  to  her 
father. 

It  will  afford  me  great  pleasure  to  furnish  you  with  the  little 
information  which  it  will  be  in  my  power  to  give  you  during 
your  residence  in  Paris.  I  will  thank  you  to  send  me  a  file  of 
one  of  the  minor  papers,  which  I  suppose  you  will  take,  and 
which  will  not  be  transmitted  to  the  Department  of  State. 

Knowing  as  I  did  that  you  considered  the  Presidential  con 
test  to  lie  between  Mr.  Monroe  and  Mr.  Tompkins,  and  that  you 
preferred  the  latter  to  the  former,  I  never  suspected  that  you  had 
any  agency  in  obtruding  my  name  in  the  discussions  of  that  ques 
tion.  I  did  suspect  that  you  had  something  to  do  with  the  New 
York  Patriot.  The  course  which  that  paper  took  was  the  one 
which  I  expected  you  would  pursue. 

Upon  this  subject  I  think  I  have  serious  cause  of  complaint 
against  my  particular  friends.  They  would  not  consent,  when 
the  declarations  of  Dr.  Bibb  were  insufficient,  that  I  should  put 
an  end  to  the  contest  by  declaring  that  I  would  not  serve  if 
elected.  Their  plan  I  understood  to  be  to  attend  the  caucus 
and  vote  for  Mr.  Monroe  and  state  the  facts  in  the  Intelligencer, 
which  would,  as  they  believed,  place  me  on  higher  ground  than 
could  be  occupied  in  any  other  way,  as  I  did  not  wish  to  be 
elected.  This  plan  was  eventually  abandoned,  without  any  ex 
planation  ever  having  been  given.  Bibb,  Tait,  Macon,  and 
Hall  all  absented  themselves,  with  several  others,  and  of  course 
deprived  themselves  of  the  right  to  make  the  proposed  state 
ment.  The  charge  of  intrigue  and  double-dealing  I  was  fully 
aware  would  be  made  by  Mr.  Monroe's  friends,  if  not  by  him 
self.  I  have  not  heard  that  any  insinuations  of  this  kind  have 
been  made  by  any  member  of  Congress,  but  I  think  it  more 
than  probable  that  it  will  be.  The  Letters  to  the  President  in 
the  Democratic  Press  have  assailed  him,  and  everybody  who 
has  been  in  his  Cabinet,  except  Mr.  Monroe  and  Mr.  Dallas. 


1816.  LETTERS,    ETC.  703 

You  have  come  off  better  than  the  President.  Indeed,  I  am 
not  certain  that  he  intended  to  abuse  you  at  all,  as  he  professes 
great  respect  for  Mr.  Madison,  especially  in  his  latter  numbers. 
In  the  first  the  charges  of  folly  and  cowardice  are  roundly  made. 
He  asserts  that  the  imbecility  of  the  persons  selected  for  the  Cabi 
net,  or  dread  of  their  political  power,  has  been  the  sole  rule  of 
selection ;  that  he  was  influenced  in  his  choice  by  the  same 
principle  that  the  ignorant  savages  worship  the  devil.  There  is 
some  reason  to  believe  that  Glurdy,  of  Baltimore,  is  the  author. 
The  letters  are  remarkable  only  for  the  grossest  ignorance  of  the 
subject  on  which  they  treat,  and  asperity  of  abuse.  As  he  pro 
ceeded,  his  asperity  diminished.  His  principal  ground  of  abuse 
against  me  is  my  supposed  tyrannical  conduct  in  removing  Mr. 
Warden  from  the  consulship,  and  the  gross  ignorance  which  he 
asserts  I  displayed  in  Paris,  to  the  shame  and  mortification  of 
my  countrymen  in  that  city.  The  general  assertions  are  made  in 
the  first  letter,  and  the  specifications  are  exhibited  in  the  last,  in 
which  D.  B.  Warden  makes  a  first-rate  figure.  In  his  facts  he 
is  most  unfortunate.  Not  a  single  one  has  even  the  semblance  of 
truth  in  its  favor. 

Mr.  Dallas  and  family  have  left  this  place,  to  which  he  does 
not  think  of  returning  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  A  few 
days  before  his  departure  he  expressed  a  wish  that  I  might  suc 
ceed  him  in  that  office.  I  informed  him  that  the  President  had 
urged  me  to  take  it,  and  that  I  had  declined  the  offer.  I  stated 
it  as  my  opinion  that  it  would  be  expedient  to  let  it  remain 
vacant  until  Mr.  Madison's  successor  should  come  into  office, 
who  would  by  that  means  be  less  shackled  in  forming  his  Cab 
inet.  He  said,  in  tendering  the  office  to  me,  he  supposed  that 
subject  had  been  fully  considered,  and  that  Mr.  Monroe  had 
been  consulted.  His  manner  of  expression  was  calculated  to 
convey  rather  indistinctly  the  idea  that  he  knew  this  to  be  the 
fact.  I  told  him  that  no  intimation  of  that  kind  had  fallen 
from  the  President  when  he  had  urged  me  to  accept  it,  and  that 
the  fact,  if  true,  would  not  have  had  any  influence  upon  my 
decision. 

I  presume  the  office  will  remain  vacant  until  the  4th  of 
March  next.  It  is  said  that  Mr.  Crowninshield  will  retire  with 


704  WRITINGS    OF     GALL  ATI  N.  1816. 

the  President.  Should  this  be  the  case,  Mr.  Monroe  will  have 
an  entire  new  Cabinet  to  form.  I  have  some  doubts  whether, 
under  the  particular  circumstances  in  which  I  have  been  placed, 
it  will  not  be  my  duty  to  remain  some  time  a  member  of  his 
Cabinet,  if  he  should  wish  it,  and  at  least  to  give  him  an  oppor 
tunity  of  manifesting  his  displeasure,  if  I  have  incurred  it.  In 
deciding  upon  this  question,  I  shall  not  take  the  advice  of  my 
friends,  as  the  chances  are  two  to  one  that  their  advice  will  be 
wrong.  The  most  of  Mr.  Monroe's  friends  expect  that  he  will 
offer  me  the  Department  of  State.  From  Mr.  Dallas's  expres 
sions,  it  would  seem  that  he  wishes  me  to  take  the  Treasury. 

Present  my  respects  to  Mrs.  Gallatin  and  family,  and  accept 
my  best  wishes  for  favorable  gales  to  waft  you  across  the  At 
lantic,  and  for  the  continuation  of  your  and  their  health  and 
happiness. 


GALLATIN   TO   MONROE. 

NEW  YORK,  15th  May,  1816. 

SIE, — I  perceive  that  in  the  printed  correspondence  of  the 
American  ministers  at  Ghent  my  name  is  omitted  in  the  de 
spatch  of  12th  August,  1814,  to  the  Secretary  of  State.  This 
omission  compels  me  to  say  that  this  despatch,  of  which  the 
original  draft  is  now  before  me,  was  not  only  signed  but 
almost  entirely  prepared  by  myself  at  the  request  of  my  col 
leagues.  It  is  indeed  a  simple  statement  of  facts  which  any 
person  might  have  written.  After  it  had  been  transcribed  and 
signed  by  all  of  us,  it  was  agreed  to  make  a  slight  alteration  by 
omitting  the  first  intended  concluding  paragraph.  This  rendered 
it  necessary  for  Mr.  Hughes  to  transcribe  a  second  time  the  last 
sheet,  which  contained  our  signatures.  And  I  understand  that 
he  neglected  to  send  this  new  copy  to  me  for  my  signature,  and 
transmitted  it  in  that  shape  to  the  Department  of  State.  Al 
though  I  presume  that  the  duplicate  and  triplicate  signed  by  me 
have  been  duly  received,  I  have  thought  it  proper  to  remove  by 
this  communication  any  erroneous  impression  which  might  have 
been  made  by  this  accidental  circumstance. 


1816.  LETTEKS,    ETC.  705 


JEFFERSON  TO   GALLATIN. 

MONTICELLO,  May  18,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  just  received  a  request  from  M.  de  la 
Fayette  to  send  him  two  copies  of  the  Review  of  Montesquieu, 
published  in  Philadelphia  about  four  or  five  years  ago,  and  have 
written  to  Dufief  to  forward  them  under  cover  to  you,  wherever 
you  may  be,  which  he  will  know  better  than  I  can.  I  pray  you 
to  be  the  bearer  of  them,  with  the  letter  for  him  now  enclosed ; 
and  if  you  have  never  read  the  wrork,  that  you  will  amuse  your 
self  with  it  on  the  passage.  Although  in  some  points  it  will 
not  obtain  our  concurrence  either  in  principle  or  practice,  yet, 
on  the  whole,  you  have  never  seen  so  profound  and  so  correct 
an  exposition  of  the  true  principles  of  government.  A  work  of 
equal  distinction  on  the  science  of  political  economy  is  now  in 
the  press  at  Washington,  profound,  solid,  and  brief. 

You  are  so  much  more  in  the  way  of  receiving  information 
of  wrhat  is  passing  in  the  world,  that  it  would  be  idle  in  me  to 
offer  you  any.  One  fact,  perhaps,  can  be  better  judged  of  in 
the  country  than  in  the  cities, — a  belief  expressed  by  every  one 
I  see  (for  I  go  little  out,  and  meddle  less  with  their  opinions), — 
that  at  the  next  election  of  Representatives  to  Congress  there  will 
be  the  most  signal  display  which  has  ever  been  seen  of  the  ex 
ercise  by  the  people  of  the  control  they  have  retained  over  the 
proceedings  of  their  delegates.  At  least,  if  those  of  the  other 
States  are  cast  in  the  same  mould  of  their  fellow-citizens  in  this. 
And  what  is  very  remarkable  is,  that  this  spontaneous  and  uni 
versal  concurrence  of  sentiment  has  been  produced  without 
scarcely  a  word  having  been  said  on  the  subject  in  the  public 
papers  of  this  State.  I  consider  this  last  circumstance  as  pre 
senting  an  element  of  character  in  our  people  which  must  con 
stitute  the  basis  of  every  estimate  of  the  solidity  and  duration 
of  our  government.  Sincere  prayers  for  your  safe  and  pleasant 
passage,  and  a  happy  return  in  the  fulness  of  time  when  your 
own  wishes  and  the  public  good  shall  require. 

P.S.— I  trouble  you  also  with  a  letter  for  Mr.  Warden. 

VOL.  i. — 46 


706  WKITINGS    OF    GALLATIN.  1816. 


GALLATIN  TO   MADISON. 


YORK,  2d  June,  1816. 
DEAR  SIR,  —  I  duly  received  your  letter,  and  will  of  course 
see  La  Fayette  and  procure  the  busts.  The  Peacock  will,  it  is 
said,  be  ready  on  Wednesday,  and  we  expect  to  sail  on  that  day. 
I  do  not  contemplate  a  long  residence  in  France,  and  hope  that  I 
may  soon  be  permitted  to  return  to  America,  which  I  leave  with 
a  heavy  heart.  In  the  expectation  of  having  again  the  pleasure 
in  a  short  time  of  seeing  you,  and  with  every  wish  for  your 
health  and  happiness,  I  remain,  with  gratitude  and  respect,  dear 
sir,  your  affectionate  and  obedient  servant. 


GALLATIN   TO   MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  June  4,  1816. 

DEAR  Sm-  ******** 
A  late  circumstance  induces  me  to  mention  another  subject. 
During  the  twelve  years  I  was  in  the  Treasury  I  procured  places 
only  for  two  friends.  One  is  an  obscure  clerk  in  one  of  the  offices 
of  the  Treasury.  The  other,  whose  name  is  John  Badollet,  is 
the  register  of  the  land  office'  at  Yincennes.  He  is  perfectly 
competent,  of  most  strict  integrity,  and  supports  a  large  family 
with  the  moderate  emoluments  of  his  office.  Permit  me  to 
request,  as  my  absence  deprives  him  of  his  friend,  that  if  the 
attempt  should  be  made,  he  may  not  be  removed  without  suf 
ficient  cause  and  inquiry.  This,  I  know,  is  the  same  thing  as 
to  request  that  he  should  not  be  removed  at  all. 

Captain  Rodgers  informed  me  yesterday  that  he  would  not  be 
ready  to  sail  before  Friday,  and  requested  that  the  day  of  de 
parture  should  be  fixed  for  Sunday;  to  which  I  assented.  As 
the  wind  is  east,  there  is  as  yet  no  detention. 

Respectfully  and  truly  yours. 


1816.  LETTERS,    ETC.  707 

GALLATIN  TO   MADISON. 

NEW  YORK,  7th  June,  1816. 

DEAR  SIR, — I  have  this  moment  received  yours  of  3d  instant, 
an  answer  to  which  has  been  anticipated  by  my  two  last  letters. 

I  am  urging  the  captain  of  the  Peacock,  and  still  hope  that 
he  will  be  ready  to  sail  the  day  after  to-morrow.  I  almost  envy 
you  the  happy  time  which  you  will  spend  this  summer  in  Orange, 
and  which  will  not,  I  hope,  be  disturbed  by  any  untoward  change 
in  our  affairs.  I  think  that  upon  the  whole  we  have  nothing  to 
apprehend  at  this  time  from  any  foreign  quarter.  You  already 
know  how  thoroughly  impressed  I  am  with  the  necessity  of 
restoring  specie  payments.  This  subject  will  not  disturb  you  in 
the  country ;  but  the  present  state  of  the  currency  is  the  only 
evil  of  any  magnitude  entailed  by  the  war,  and  which  it  seems 
incumbent  on  us  (pardon  the  expression)  to  cure  radically. 
Public  credit,  private  convenience,  the  sanctity  of  contracts,  the 
moral  character  of  the  country,  appear  all  to  be  involved  in  that 
question,  and  I  feel  the  most  perfect  conviction  that  nothing  but 
the  will  of  government  is  wanted  to  reinstate  us  in  that  respect. 
The  choice  of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  is,  under  those  cir 
cumstances,  important,  and  I  am  sorry  that  Mr.  Crawford,  as  I 
am  informed,  has  declined  the  appointment.  I  wish  it  may  fall 
on  Mr.  Lowndes  or  on  Mr.  Calhoun.  Our  Maryland  and  Penn 
sylvania  politicians,  without  excepting  some  of  the  most  virtuous, 
and  whom  I  count  amongst  my  best  friends,  are  paper-tainted. 
The  disease  extends,  though  more  particularly  to  this  State. 

I  beg  you  to  forgive  this  digression  on  a  subject  which  I  had 
no  intention  to  touch  when  I  began  this  letter. 

Mrs.  Gallatin  begs  to  be  affectionately  remembered  to  Mrs. 
Madison.  I  send  my  best  compliments  to  my  friend  Todd,  and 
I  beg  you  to  accept  the  assurance  of  my  respectful  attachment 

and  best  wishes. 

Your  obedient  servant. 


EXD   OF   VOLUME   I. 


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